The Rescuer's Rescue
by closetfan
Summary: This, my first fiction, is humbly dedicated to the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia. COMPLETED!
1. The Crash

"Father, I am over the dangerzone now."  
  
"Ok, Scott", Jeff replied. "What do you have so far?"  
  
Scott stated, "It's bizarre. There are no indications of a cave-in anywhere. No other emergencies vehicles, no mining equipment, no people, nothing." "Thunderbird 5 from Thunderbird 1, Alan, can you read me?"  
  
"Go ahead, Scott", came Alan's reply. "Alan, can I have those coordinates again? I want to double check them as I do not see anything here?"  
  
"Scott, here is the recording, you can hear for yourself" Alan played back the recording of the latest distress call to International Rescue. "Calling International Rescue, calling International Rescue. We need your help. We have had a major mine explosion and cave-in trapping 22 miners. The location is 786 dash 332, grid 10. Please hurry as another cave in can occur any second now!" "Scott, did you get that? Are you at the correct location?" Asked Alan (a little trepidation in his voice as he wonders if he gave out the wrong coordinates)  
  
"Thanks Alan" replied Scott, "those are the coordinates that you gave me."  
  
"Thunderbird 1 from Thunderbird 2" called Virgil.  
  
"Go ahead Virg".  
  
"Scott, my ETA is 3.5 minutes, do you think we have a rescue there or not? John is with me and we have pod 3 with us. It contains the Mole and the other mining tools", stated Virgil.  
  
"Virg, I don't know. But keep on coming. I am going to do a thermal scan to see if I can spot anything underground. I have landed on a plateau above the rescue coordinates. There is a good flat area to land just below me"  
  
Scott started scanning the hills on the other side of the field that Virgil was headed for. He could see Thunderbird 2 coming in low and slow preparing for the landing. The thermoscan picked up nothing in the hills but did pick up something starting to glow beneath the ground where Virgil was just now hovering over. The thermalscan glow was spreading rapidly and getting brighter.  
  
"VIRG, get out of there, NOW!!" screamed Scott.  
  
Virgil did not wait to find out why; he was in reaction mode as he slammed the throttle forward. TB2 responded instantly to the request for full forward thrust. He figured he could always ask Scott later what happened.  
  
Suddenly behind him a massive explosion ripped from the ground through the air, rapidly overtaking TB2, sending her back end up and forward, just as she had full thrusters on. The result was an end over end death spiral, not unlike an American football bouncing on the turf after it hit the ground.  
  
Scott sat there in shock watching TB2 somersault over and over hitting the ground again and again with either nose or tail. Pieces of fuselage flying in every direction. He watched one of the big main thrusters come flying off. He didn't realize that he was whispering "oh God, no, please, no" over and over again.  
  
But Base heard.  
  
The explosion that sent Thunderbird 2 on her death roll had finished as quickly as it started leaving a huge crater in it's place. TB2's last somersault speared her nose into the side of another plateau resting on her side.  
  
Jeff sat there stunned listening to Scott. He was alone at the moment. Tin-tin and Grandma had gone shopping. Gordon was working on TB4 with Brains. Jeff just sat there at his desk, listening. All he could hear was Scott repeating "oh God, no, please, no". His right hand fisted, he was banging it on the desk, willing the speaker to spew forth the information.  
  
"Scott, come in, what's happening?" pleaded Jeff.  
  
No answer. "Scott, answer me, I need to know what has happened. It is Thunderbird 2?  
  
No answer.  
  
"Scott, COME IN NOW!"  
  
The words that Jeff had feared hearing came through the speaker "Thunderbird 2 has crashed. She was catapulted almost a mile away by an explosion that originated underground. I am heading there now in TB1, I should be there in less than 30 seconds"  
  
It was one of the longest 30 seconds Jeff had ever lived through. That big green transport was very important to him. Not because of it's pricetag or it's size or it's rescue capabilities, but because it contained two of his sons. 


	2. The Shock

"Gordon! Brains! Up here on the double!" bellowed Jeff.  
  
Gordon looked up from his work inside TB4 with a start. Something was wrong. His father rarely called them up to the lounge in that tone of voice. Gordon looked at Brains and Brains at Gordon then they both bolted towards the lounge.  
  
At his desk, Jeff still had his hand in a fist, staring at the portraits, ..waiting, ..waiting....  
  
Scott landed TB1 next to the remains of Thunderbird 2. When he got out, he stood there just gaping at the huge mass of mangled green metal that used to be the workhorse behind International Rescue. He thought to himself "If Virg were alive, this would kill him". He snapped out of his fugue with that thought. "NO! Virgil and John are NOT DEAD!" he said aloud. "They are alive and we are going to get them out!" He looked down at his watch communicator and hailed base.  
  
Scott's portrait started to beep, and Jeff answered abruptly just as Gordon and Brains entered the lounge. Jeff's reaction to Scott's hailing left both Brains and Gordon with a sour feeling in their stomach. "Scott, what is..how bad..Virgil? John?" Jeff couldn't seem to get out the question he needed to ask.  
  
Scott already in a state of shock and dispair didn't think he could feel any worse. But when he heard his father stutter when trying to ask about Virgil and John, his heart just sank.  
  
"Father, I am at the site now. Thunderbird 2 is destroyed. I have not been able to determine if either John or Virgil have survived. I tried TB2's communications and both watch communicators. No answer. I then tried the thermalscan, but with all the wiring shorts inside, I cannot make out any distinguished forms. But I do not think there is a fire inside. There was not that much heat showing up on the scan. TB2 is settled on her right side, the mole has punctured a hole out the bottom of the pod and about ¼ of the mole auger is showing. The tail assembly is gone, the right wing is sheared off and the left wing broken at the midpoint. I can't see much of the nose section, it is buried in the side of the hill. None of the doors are visible." Scott forced himself to be as professional as possible. He wanted to leap onto the top of TB2 and just tear away at the sheet metal to get inside to his brothers. But, he had to give Base all the facts as clear and precise as possible so that a plan of attack can be worked out.  
  
This was the first Gordon and Brains had heard about the accident. Tears were streaming down Gordon's face as he looked at his father, distressed and in shock. He didn't want to believe what he heard. He was sure there was more to it and he just walked in late or misinterpreted what Scott had just said. Maybe he was just describing a bad dream, or what might have happened if TB2 didn't just escape by the skin of her shell. Brains had sunk into the closest chair. He was mumbling incoherently. He had to think. He designed TB2, what were their chances of survival? What about the engines, was there a radiation leak? Would the nose cabin be able to withstand such a severe crash? "Think, Brains, think" he commanded himself. "uh,..uh..Scott? Have you t-t-taken a r-r-reading to s-s-see if there is a- a-a-any radiation l-l-l-leakage from the e-e-e-engines?" asked Brains. (He didn't notice how bad he stutter had gotten) Scott answered "give me a minute Brains" After what seemed like an eternity, Scott was back on the com "there is no radiation leak, the engines apparently were spared".  
  
Alan had listened to the transmissions. He was sick. "It could have been me down there if it wasn't my turn up here in TB5. It SHOULD have been me instead of John! Alan was thinking. He was feeling himself starting to panic and a feeling of clostrophobia was enveloping him. This is the feeling that John always complained about when his brothers were on a mission, but Alan was way to worried to appreciate it just now. He started pacing around TB5 trying to think of a solution. What could he do from up in space? He was working himself up into a very agitated state.  
  
"Scott", everyone turned to Jeff as he spoke. He seemed to be pulling himself out of his state of shock and taking control as he always had. "I want you to come back here on the double".  
  
"NO! NO way am I going to leave John and Virgil, they could still be alive, they must be alive" screamed Scott.  
  
"Scott" Jeff said in a quiet controlled voice, "TB1 can be here, pick us all up and be back at the crash site before we can get there in one of our private jets. TB1 can also hold a few more pieces of equipment than our private jets. You cannot do anything by yourself. Please come pick us up, now"  
  
Scott hesitated. He knew his dad was right. He was always right it seems. But he stared at the crumbled hulk finding he couldn't drag himself away. He stood and stared at Thunderbird 2 for what seemed to be an eternity. But it was only seconds. He snapped out of it and was in TB1 and on his way within minutes. "I'm on my way, Father".  
  
Jeff turned to Brains. Brains, what can we bring with us in TB1?  
  
Alan's portrait eyes lit up flashing at a speed indicating extreme urgency.  
  
"Go ahead Alan" said Jeff. Alan, almost hysterical now screamed "come pick me up, I need to help too" Jeff's reply was unexpected. Alan was expecting a flat out "NO." But instead, he heard, "Alan, it takes 3 hours one way to go to TB5, which one of us would you like to take away from John and Virgil's rescue for six hours?" Alan just sagged into the chair. His dad was right. He would be an asset in helping, but no way could he get there in less than 6 hrs. And it would mean one less person digging out Virgil and John. All that pent up energy built up in the last few minutes just came forth in a flood of tears. He could hear his father through the sobs "Alan, there is something we need for you to do, find out where that transmission came from. It was obviously a setup. I want to get that S.O.B. who did this to your brothers." "and Alan...we will keep the communications lines open so that you can hear everything that is going on. Son, I want you here with us, believe me, I do.' "OK, dad", Alan's reply was barely audible. Jeff continued. "One last thing, son.....you will have to break the news to Grandma and Tin-tin, try to track them down. Can you handle that?"  
  
Alan responded "yes dad, I can find both that bastard who did this to my brothers and I will also track down Grandma and Tin-tin. And thanks dad for giving me something to do, I need to keep busy." Telling his Grandmother about two of her grandsons from miles above the earth was going to be the most difficult thing Alan ever had to do in his life. 


	3. Inside

Through the brain fog, he was wondering why his blankets weighed so much. Even though TB5 had artificial gravity, it was still lighter that earth's. The blankets seemed awfully heavy. Even on earth sleeping with just 2 blankets doesn't feel this heavy. There is something wrong with the air purifier too as he gave a cough. The pain from the simple cough cleared the fuzz a little. John awoke with the realization that he wasn't on TB5. But he wasn't sure where he was at that moment. He opened his eyes to darkness, but not so dark he couldn't see. There were sparks popping about, and some smoke. He found he could move his head ok, but his body was buried under.stuff. He couldn't figure out what was on top of him, but they weren't blankets, that's for sure. He moved his right arm and was able to push some of the objects off of him. He was on his left side and both legs were pinned by a long bar of some sort. But, it wasn't heavy. With a little work he was able to free his legs. He began to sit up when a bolt of pain shot through his left arm. When he looked down at it, he could see that it was bending in a direction that it wasn't supposed to just below the shoulder. His arm was broken. He couldn't see well enough to tell if it the break was through the skin or not. No matter what, it hurt like the dickens.  
  
Supporting his bad arm with his good one, he righted himself into a seated position. Gads, he hurt all over. But as far as he could tell, the arm was the worst. Everything else felt like bruises and torn muscles and maybe a cracked or bruised rib. As more of the brain fog lifted he was beginning to take in where he was, and he tried to remember what had happened. He looked around and tried to evaluate what he saw. He now remembered that he is in TB2 and the last thing he heard was Scott yelling for Virgil to get out of there fast. He was still strapped in his seat, thank God when whatever hit, hit. He remembers being thrown around the seat a bit when the safety belt broke and sent him flying through the air. But that was all he remembered. From the angle where he sat, it looks like TB2 is on her side. The front panel and windows are completely destroyed and full of dirt. The front end must be sitting under a pile of dirt and rubble. Maybe a little, maybe a lot, who knows. There was a ragged gaping hole in the back of the cockpit area.  
  
VIRGIL!!!! Where the heck was Virgil?! He jumped up way to fast for his physical condition to handle, and he sank back down into a sitting position. His arm pounding pain to his brain. And his brain was fogging up again. John sat for a minute, waiting for the vertigo to pass and his arm to stop throbbing a bit.  
  
"virgil?" he croaked. If Virgil was conscious anywhere in this mess, he would never be able to hear that. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Virgil?" He sat and listened. He strained to hear anything other than the occasional crackling of the shorting wires. "My WATCH!" He thought. He needed to communicate with anyone in his family maybe even Virgil. He had no idea if Scott was caught up in the explosion or if Virgil had gotten out. But, he had forgotten about the watch. No way was he going to be able to bring his left arm up to talk into the communicator, so he gingerly unhooked the watch with his right hand as his left arm hung limp by his side. When it was off, he looked at it and moaned. It was smashed. The same force that broke his arm broke the communicator. Now that his head had cleared a bit, he slowly rose up onto his feet. It was difficult standing on TB2's wall as it is curved. Not to mention all the debris around his feet. He looked around, for a handhold to help balance him and for anything that might help in his search. The chair that he had been sitting in was still bolted to the floor. He knew that there were several flashlights on board, usually mounted to the walls next to key equipment or under the seats. He clamored over some debris and grabbed for the chair with his good arm. When he had his balance, he felt underneath the chair and low and behold, the flashlight was still attached. He unhooked the flashlight and turned it on. It made it very clear just how badly TB2 was damaged. This pushed John more towards panic as he worried about Virgil. He knew Virgil was not strapped in when the explosion hit. Just before reaching the dangerzone Virgil had gotten out of his chair to check something and when he sat back down, things started to happen too fast. Virgil must have been thrown around like a rag doll. He NEEDED to find him quickly. He also needed to communicate to someone on the outside that he was still alive. Virgil's chair was broken and the communications microphone on it snapped off. So, there was no contact with the outside that way. There were radios in the different machines in the pod. Maybe one of them is still intact.  
  
John slowly moved through the cabin moving debris and objects out of the way with either his foot or good arm. He looked everywhere where a body could hide under. When he looked towards the back at the gaping hole, his heart skipped a couple of beats. What if Virgil was thrown into the pod? If he survived the sharp edges of the torn metal, could he have survived being thrown around such a large area full of dangerous heavy objects also being tossed about? Suddenly John couldn't stay in the cabin any longer and he scrambled for the hole. He peered through the hole into the cavernous pod. He fanned the flashlight around the pod and the dark just ate up the beam of light. When his light hit upon the Mole, he could see what made the hole between the pod and cabin area. The Mole had broken loose and apparently was flung about piercing a hole everywhere that auger made contact. Its final resting-place has its auger poking through the bottom of the pod. He is sure that is can be seen from the outside. How he hoped someone was out there trying to get in. But if Scott was also caught up in the explosion, how would the others get there to help? Do they even think anyone survived?  
  
He looked about trying to figure out how to climb down into the pod and search for Virgil. As he started to climb through the hole, his bad arm, just hanging limp banged up against the bulkhead. John's eyes watered at the pain. He decided that if he was going to be of any help in the search for Virgil, he needed to secure his broken arm. He looked about. The door to the stairway that leads down to the sickbay was blocked. But he really didn't want to go all the way there just to strap his arm. Anything will do. He looked about for a rag, any cloth that would fit around his arm and chest, immobilizing his arm. His belt wasn't long enough as he had a small waist. His SASH! How simple. All he needed to do was bring his arm up and slide the lower part into his sash, and that should secure it enough. Oh, but this is gonna hurt. Delicately, he bent his bad arm, and maneuvered his forearm inside his sash just above the belt. The pain was immense, and he had broken out in a sweat just doing that. But at least the arm was now immobilized.  
  
The wall between the pod and cabin were actually two thick walls; one belonged to the main body of TB2, and the other to the pod. The hole was jagged with space in between the two walls. He stood at the hole scanning the inside of the pod close to him to find a suitable way into the pod without injuring himself even more. Or killing him for that matter. Since TB2 was on her side, but at a bit of an angle towards her belly, to get to the bottom of the pod was the longest possible route. The hole he was peering out of was up near the top of her on her left side. He continued to scan around the pod with the flashlight wanting to make sure he could get in relatively safely, with only one good arm. Suddenly in the beam of light he caught sight of a familiar blue color. He could not tell from where he was if it was just a torn piece of cloth, a spare uniform, or hat. Or if in fact there was someone attached to it. But he cast aside the precautions that he had started to follow and started into the pod. He was able to make use of clamps, and holds already built into the pod. And thankfully the Mole or some other heavy equipment had provided holes in the wall at very critical places. Climbing down into the pod was more like rock climbing on those fake walls that gyms have. Except, he had only one good arm, which slowed his descent down to a crawl.  
  
He reached the bottom and focused his light in the direction that he thought he saw the blue. If he thought he had a difficult time maneuvering around the cabin, it would be even harder in here because of all the large pieces of heavy equipment. He wasn't sure how he was going to get around the Mole. Part of the auger was embedded through the pod floor and the back end came to rest against the right side of the pod. But it was at a very low angle to the pod floor. The Mole had partially separated from its chassis, and it did not look stable. John wasn't sure if he could make it under the main body of the Mole. Nothing looked very secure. Items were dangling from above him that were secured before the flight. They had survived the initial crash, but now seemed to be hanging by a thread. Any one of these objects could fall on top of him. Many of them weighing hundreds of pounds. There was also a dangerous looking pileup next to and partially supported by the Mole. It looks like if one box at the bottom gave out, the whole thing would collapse. He didn't like what he saw. But if Virgil was in here, he needed to find him.  
  
He fanned his flashlight back and forth in the direction that he thought he saw blue. He knows he saw it. Nothing. He climbed over some debris and smaller pieces of equipment heading in the direction that he saw the blue. He fanned his flashlight around some more. Nothing. He headed for the space between the Mole and the floor and was about to crawl through when he fanned his light one more time in the direction.  
  
John felt a pain in his chest. It was his heart. There caught in the beam of his flashlight was Virgil. 


	4. Getting organized

Just as John spotted Virgil, he could hear the roar of familiar engines. TB1!! SCOTT'S OUTSIDE! "I have to find a way to contact him, let him know we're alive." John thought. He frantically searched about for any communications device. He couldn't get inside the Mole in time, the Roller was on the other side of the Mole, and the emergency kits were either buried or on the other side of the Mole. His eyes drifted to the hole that the Mole's auger made in the bottom of the pod. It was larger than the auger itself. Light could be seen through the edges. John quickly shone the flashlight at the auger-made hole. He concentrated the light all around the edge of the hole praying that Scott would look at the bottom of TB2. "Please Scott, please look at the pod" thought John.  
  
Scott was lifting off in TB1. He still had his view window open and was looking at the wreck of Thunderbird 2. He hovered there for a moment, staring at the carnage. He hated leaving. He knew he would be back, but something was telling him to stay. The auger sticking out of her belly was a sickening sight.  
  
He hovered a moment longer, let out a deep sigh, a pushed TB1 into forward mode at full speed.  
  
Scott was leaving! "SCOTT!!!" yelled John. "COME BACK, WE'RE HERE!!" John knew that Scott would not be able to hear him, but he still had to cry out. "PLEASE COME BACK. SCOTT! SCOTT!"  
  
But he could hear the engines fading.  
  
"SCOTT, DON'T LEAVE US, WE'RE ALIVE, DON'T LEAVE US!!" John screamed as the sound of the powerful TB1 engines faded away.  
  
Why did Scott leave? He never leaves the scene of a rescue. He should be setting up the Mobile Command Unit and organizing the rescue of his own brothers. John collapsed and heaved a big sigh, tears in his eyes. He felt so helpless.  
  
  
  
Scott pushed Thunderbird 1 to her fullest speed. At one point he found that he was over the 15,000 MPH that was supposed to be her top speed. "Must be a tail wind." he thought. But he did not let up at all. He kept that throttle at full until he was within reach of Tracy Island. Only then did he slow her down.  
  
  
  
As Jeff reached for the written list of items that Brains thought could fit onto TB1, he could hear her engines. "Gordon, Brains, let's go to TB2's hanger and go through the pods and gather all of the items on this list. I want to be loading TB1 while Scott is doing all his post and pre flight checks. I want this done in record time." Jeff said. Gordon and Brains chimed in together "You don't have to tell us twice". Brains continued "U-uh M-M-Mr. Tracy, I w-w-wanted to bring other p-p- pieces of equipment, b-b-but either it w-w-was too b-b-big for TB1 or it is in, it is in," he had a hard time saying "it is inside the pod that TB2 has right now."  
  
"That's ok Brains. I know we won't have any heavy equipment available to use, but we were able to still rescue people before you came up with a lot of these machines. We will just have to do it again" Jeff reassured.  
  
Jeff tore the list into three pieces and divvied it up amongst the three of them. "Ok, let's go" he said.  
  
Scott was just bringing TB1 into her hanger when he saw Gordon standing to the side with some very manual tools. He had in his arms pick axes and shovels. There were more sophisticated pieces of equipment coming but nothing beats a good basic tool as backup.  
  
Scott got out of TB1 and walked over to Gordon and asked, "what can I help with?". Gordon replied, "nothing, you should be doing your post flight now and then start your pre-test flight so that we can get underway. Dad, Brains and myself each have a piece of the list Brains wrote up and we are gathering all the tools that will fit on TB1."  
  
"Sounds like you have it all set. I'll get back into TB1 and do the post and pre-flight checks now. Do you know where to put all this stuff?" Scott asked. "We will be putting it into every nook and cranny that TB1 has. She is going to be splitting at the seems by the time we're done" quipped Gordon. Scott gave a quick smile and headed back inside TB1. Gordon proceeded to open lockers, and cabinets, removing things that he didn't think would be needed for this particular rescue and stuffing items from the list in there. At one point it looked like a busy anthill with the three men going in and out of TB1 bringing items in, coming out empty and bringing more in.  
  
Scott had finished all the flight checks, Gordon and Brains were just finishing packing the last of their goodies somewhere on the ship and Jeff was in the lounge talking to Alan. "We're off, son. We will be communicating with you from TB1 or the Mobile Command Unit. How are you doing? Jeff said. Alan responded, not knowing if his dad meant "how was he doing with his assignments or how he was doing emotionally", so he answered both "Emotionally, I'm holding it at bay. I located Tin-tin and Grandma and asked them to come home. I told them that there was some bad news, but I didn't want to tell them how bad. So they are worried, but they will make it back home more easily than if they knew just how bad the situation was. I haven't gotten any leads yet on the call that sent Virg and John to that site, but I am working on that. I am pouring my heart and soul into that". "Good boy, son. It was a good idea to let Grandma and Tin-tin know that there is a bad situation. And I know with your tenacity that you will find the origin of that call. Base out" closed Jeff.  
  
Jeff checked the radar for any planes in the immediate area, but truthfully, he really didn't care at this point if anyone found out about International Rescue. He couldn't think beyond just getting to the downed Thunderbird 2. He looked around the lounge, checked his desk, felt like he was missing something as he as never left Base during a rescue, then left.  
  
Jeff was the last to strap in. The pool was still open; it had never been closed after Scott landed. "Everybody strapped in?" Scott asked? Three affirmative answers were returned. Scott set the sleek ship back into the air, and pushed her back up to full throttle to get to the crash site as fast as possible. He wondered how the others were going to react when they first see Thunderbird 2. It is one thing to say what it looked like; it is another story to actually see her. He was worried about his dad. He knows that he felt a sharp pain in his own chest when he watched the scene unfold before him. And even though Jeff does not have a history of health problems, he was still worried.  
  
Tin-tin and Grandma landed minutes after TB1 departed. Tin-tin ran into the lounge as Grandma walked as fast as she could. By the time Grandma entered the lounge, Tin-tin had Alan on the com. "Grandma, Tin-tin, please sit down" Alan solemnly said. They both sat down on the TB3 sofa, holding hands. They feared it was very bad. Alan continued, "There was an explosion". The women gasped, holding on to each other tighter. "Thunderbird 2 was involved. The explosion apparently sent her spiraling uncontrollably for about a mile. She is heavily damaged. We have no contact with either Virgil or John. We don't know if they are alive or not." Both women were crying now, holding each other in each other's arms. "Dad, Gordon and Brains figured out what rescue equipment would fit on TB1 and they left just minutes ago. They should be back at the crash site in less than an hour." His heart was breaking watching his grandmother crying so hard. He wished he could be there to comfort her. But he did not want to tell her the news that the explosion was probably done on purpose. He couldn't, not yet. Alan said "Grandma, I wish I could be down there with you. I love you". She looked up at the screen, her eyes soaked with tears, unable to speak, and just nodded a 'yes'. Tin-tin let go of Mrs. Tracy and got up. She has some special teas that were especially soothing. Something to take the edge off of this terrible news. So she went into the kitchen to make some for the two of them.  
  
  
  
"Hey Jerry, did you hear that?" said Walt as he sat in the chair in front of his hardware store. Jerry, owner of the farm store next door replied, "Yeah, felt it too. It shook the ground something fierce". Hogs Hollow was a sleepy little town 30 miles away from the terrible explosion. Its Main Street was about 3 blocks long, and had a population of 514 people. Well 515 if you count the brand new baby born to Mrs. Southern this morning. Jerry and Walt were just sitting in front of their stores watching the world go by. They have done countless inventories, gone over their books a dozen times, but business just wasn't booming enough for them to have to work any harder. So this afternoon they were just killing time with chat.  
  
"Jer, you expecting any customers, today?" asked Walt.  
  
"Nope" came the reply. "What about you?  
  
Walt's answer was the same,"Nope". "Feel like taking a ride over yonder to see if we can see what blew up?"  
  
Jerry answered "Ain't nothing out that way. No buildings, no mining, nuthin."  
  
"Well, you got anything better to do than go for a drive on a nice day?" quipped Walt.  
  
"Ah you got me there. Who's drivin"  
  
Walt dug into his pocket and brought out his car keys "my Jeeps all gassed up"  
  
The two men jumped into the Jeep and headed in the general direction of the blast. Little did they know what they would find. 


	5. On their own

When the last of TB1s engines faded beyond earshot, John got himself together and climbed towards Virgil. He couldn't get a good look at him right away, he was too far and it was too dark. All he could see was his head and right arm.  
  
As he clamored over the debris and broken pieces of equipment, he called, "Virgil? Hey, Virg, can you hear me?" He felt like he was trying to run in knee high molasses, with all the speed he could muster trying to get to his brother. He stumbled a couple of times, but was able to catch himself.  
  
As he reached the Mole he felt his stomach twist. Virgil was pinned under the chassis of that great machine. Because he was pinned against the bottom of the pod but TB2 was at such a great angle, more on her side; Virgil's arm and head just hung limply in the direction of gravity. The sleeve of his uniform was gone. His arm didn't look too bad other than cut up. But his face. It was already swelling and the bruising was starting to show. He had a few minor gashes about his face and head, and they had stopped or almost stopped bleeding. But John thought that because of the color and swelling that maybe his left cheekbone was fractured. He couldn't reach him from where he was. To get to the other side of the mole, he would have to either climb all the way up the side of the mole, around the auger and back down the other side or he would have to go down the other way and go under the mole. He decided on the latter. He needed to reach Virgil's on the other side to determine how badly he was hurt. He carefully moved some of the debris away from the immediate area but wanted to be very careful. Virgil is right next to the mountain of equipment just looking for an excuse to avalanche down on top of them.  
  
After sliding under the Mole, John started working on removing the debris that looked most likely to fall on Virgil. As he cleared it away from the chassis, he could see that Virgil was severely pinned. He held his fingers under Virgil's neck to feel for a pulse. Thank God, he had one. It wasn't the strongest, but it was clear and regular. John laid as flat as he could against the pod floor to reach under the monster that had Virgil and started to check out parts of Virgil's body that were within reach. In the position John was in, he was lying on his broken arm, but he could not get his good arm into that small crevice otherwise. He just clenched his jaw tight to the pain and felt for Virgil's left shoulder, arm, ribs, pelvis and leg bones. He could definitely tell the ribs were broken as they have pierced his skin. But he was wedged in too tightly to tell if anything else was broken. The space between the pod floor and the chassis was very small and he feared that Virgil had sustained a lot of damage, soft tissue damage in particular. He remembered in his first aid course that in situations like this, a crushing injury, the patient would be alive until the weight was lifted. Then they would bleed to death internally as soon as the weight was lifted. The pressure suit was invented just for that reason. It acted like a body tourniquet. But he didn't think TB2 had one of those suits on board. Even if there was, if he tried to lift the Mole off of Virgil, drag him out then try to wrestle him into a body suit, all using just one arm, Virgil would still probably bleed to death internally. So releasing Virgil from his vise was not part of John's plan right now. But John was trying to think of something to alleviate some of the pressure however. Just a little bit. He wanted to try to find something else to bear most of the weight of the Mole.  
  
He was agonizing over whether to try to wake Virgil up or not. He didn't want Virgil to be awake in terrific pain, but at the same time, he needed him awake. He had to know that Virgil could wake up. He had to know that Virgil would be ok. He just needed him to wake up and tell him he's ok. John once again looked at that small pocket of space that Virgil's body has been forced into and decided not to.  
  
Now that John had checked Virgil as much as he could from this side, John scooted down and under the Mole back to the other side. This time on his back, so that his good arm could squeeze into the airspace, he reached in to try to feel any part of Virgil's body. But his arm wasn't long enough; Virgil was too far away from this edge of the chassis. As John withdrew his arm, he saw blood on his sleeve. He looked at it, tried to see if he cut himself on something while probing under the debris, or if it was a cut he didn't realize he had that just started to bleed. But from the bloodstain, he could tell that it came from the outside of his shirt, not the inside. Just then a small trickle of blood flowed from under the chassis past him. It wasn't much, but it still told him that Virgil was bleeding somewhere. He decided then that he needed to relieve some of the weight on Virgil now.  
  
John left Virgil, scooted under the Mole again and headed towards the back of the pod. He had his flashlight with him, and he started to scan the area that has a locker that used to hold hand tools. It was a metal locker that was attached to the back of the pod. Hopefully it was still intact and not so damaged that he couldn't get it opened. He found it. There was debris in front of it, but other than lots of little dings, seemed ok. He waded through the broken pieces and debris around his feet and finally reached the cabinet. He gave the handle a pull, but it didn't open on the first tug. He could see that the locker was slightly askewed, which means the door was probably just a little stuck. He looked down and by his feet was plenty of debris, including a handle-less screwdriver. How lucky, that was just what he needed to pry open the door. He placed the flat head of the screwdriver between the door and wall of the locker and gave it a pop with his hand. The door swung open and out fell, amongst other items, the large 5-foot prybar that he needed. He grabbed the prybar and turn around to leave but on a second look he noticed the solid wood wheel chocks on the locker floor. They would be perfect for supporting some of the chassis weight. So he grabbed the rope that held two chocks, flung it over his shoulder and grabbed the prybar. He stumbled his way back to Virgil. He climbed just above him and dropped the chocks next to the chassis about the area where Virgil's midsection is. He placed a chock next to where the ribs would be and the second one near the pelvic area. There was just enough rope between the chocks to allow this. He set the prybar under the chassis and on top of one of the chocks using it for leverage. He leaned down on the prybar with all his might and the chassis lifted up just enough for him to slide the other chock under the chassis with his foot. He released the prybar. The next step was going to be harder because he didn't have another piece of leverage. He placed the prybar under the chassis next to the chock he had just used as a leverage tool. But this time he pulled up on the prybar. He couldn't get enough lift, so he relaxed. He then bent his knees and brought his shoulder under the prybar so that he could get his back and legs into the lift. He let out a moan, straightened out his legs and was able to get the chassis just high enough to force the second chock under it. He relaxed and let loose of the prybar and the chassis settled on the two pieces of wood. Well at least that was a little bit of weight taken off of Virgil. He sat down and took a deep breath. That bit of work exhausted him.  
  
The work kept John busy enough for a while, but now that he was sitting down, resting, he found he was just barely holding his panic at bay. Here he was, broken arm, feverish, hurting, alone, trying to save his brother's life, and feeling abandoned. He could feel the anxiety rising in him. He laid down against the pod floor on his back, and put his head down. He just wanted to do this for a moment. His feet had enough traction with the rubber soles that he didn't slide down the pod floor. He closed his eyes and tried to recompose himself. "Relax", he told himself. "You aren't going to be of any good if you start screaming like a lunatic that the sky is falling". He tried to convince himself that he just took a lot of weight off his brother. He was taking this rescue one step at a time. He was working his way to getting both he and his brother out alive. He was still working on trying to clear his head and think of a way out when he heard, "John?" John sat up with a start. He looked over at Virgil. He had his right eye open, but the left one was swollen shut. "Virgil!" But before John could say anything more to him, Virgil croaked, "How is Thunderbird 2?" Not surprised by the first question out of his mouth, John answered, "Not as bad as her pilot." Virgil grunted an acknowledgement and fell back into unconscienceness.  
  
He didn't know if he felt elated that he heard from Virgil or worried because it only lasted seconds. But the exchange was enough to spark him into action.  
  
"OK", he said and he started to ask himself questions and then answering them.  
  
"What is your goal? To get Virgil and yourself out of TB2 alive." "What steps do you need to take to do that?" "Remove Virgil from underneath the Mole, contact someone on the outside for help, secure the area from any more debris falling, dress Virgil's wounds, look for a way out of TB2, assess what pieces of equipment still works and would help in securing an escape from their green tomb."  
  
He thought about all the things he needed to do, but obviously he had to work in a certain order. Removing Virgil would be the second to last step, and dressing his wounds the last step. He would worry about internal bleeding when the time came. But what should he do first? He removed enough debris to make it safe for the moment. So that leaves outside contact and equipment assessment. He looked around, looking at the carnage inside trying to see if anything was still in one piece. He looked up at the gaping hole that he came through to get Virgil. He didn't think he could climb back up that. The door exciting the pod was badly damaged and blocked by a heavy piece of equipment. So he figured that going to the sick bay was out. He also deducted that it was probably not how he was going to leave TB2. Ok, so if he can't get out via normal means, he would have to make a way out. "I wonder where the laser torch is?" he thought. He might be able to cut a hole in the pod's side. Or maybe in this case, the floor. He tried to remember where Virgil kept the laser torch. "Hmmm, let's see, he took it out of pod 1 for this particular rescue,..now where did he put it?" Slowly he looked straight up and there dangling by one hook, probably 100 feet up, was the box marked laser torch. Darn. He had a bit of good luck with the prybar, but now he has a piece of bad luck with this. He now was trying to figure out if he wanted to try to get that laser box to fall, or think of something else. He looked at the box. It doesn't look like it would take much to come down. He checked the location above him and looked about to see where it would fall if he could get it to come down. It was not good; it would come straight down onto the Mole. And he didn't want to risk anything touching the Mole incase it would cause a chain reaction, which would cause the whole thing to collapse around Virgil. Shaking his head, he nixed the idea.  
  
Suddenly, it occurred to him that Virgil's watch communicator might still be functional. It would be on his left wrist, and John could reach that from the other side. So John got up, scooted under the Mole again and crawled the few steps up to Virgil. He laid flat (again on his bad arm) and followed the line from Virgil's shoulder along his arm, down to his wrist. At first he was going to try to just remove the watch, but he couldn't get it undone with one hand in that tight of space. So he next tried to move Virgil's arm out. John grabbed the cloth of Virgil's sleeve at the elbow and slowed worked his own arm out trying not to hit the chocks. It was slow and tedious, but Virgil's arm became free from under the chassis.  
  
John positioned himself so that he could talk directly into the watch com without straining any part of Virgil's arm. "Base from Thunderbird 2, Base from Thunderbird 2, come in Dad".  
  
No answer.  
  
"Base from John, Dad come in please!"  
  
No answer.  
  
John's heart began to sink; the watch although looking fine, was broken. He should have known it was too good to be true.  
  
Maybe he can get hold of Thunderbird 5.  
  
"Thunderbird 5 from Thunderbird 2, Thunderbird 5 from Thunderbird 2, come in, Alan. Please come in, Alan".  
  
No answer.  
  
He let out such a sigh of despair. 


	6. Plan of action

John awoke with a start at the sound of engines. Thunderbird 1 has returned! Scott came back! Apparently all that exertion trying to get the weight off of Virgil had sent him spiraling into the depths of unconscienceness. Excitedly, he called, "Hey Virg, Virg, they're here, we have help! They came back!" But there came no reply.  
  
Scott came in low and hard. He flew over the crater created by the explosion and he could hear comments from his three passengers when they saw the size and depth of it. A soft moan escaped Jeff's lips when he started to see debris from TB2. "Are you ok, father?" inquired Scott. He was very nervous about his dad seeing the shape that TB2 is in. "Don't worry about me, son, I'm ok. I just want to reach Thunderbird 2 and get inside, no matter how bad it looks.  
  
Gordon was the first to see her. The only sound he made was a garbled gasp. Jeff and Brains both saw her the same time. Jeff sat forward in his chair and cried, "Oh my God, John, Virgil!" Scott slowed TB1 and landed her as close as possible to TB2 but at a safe distance.  
  
The four men got out of TB1 and stood next to TB2 looking up at her. They saw that the pod was partially loosened from the main body. Several of the clamps had broken. Her nose was embedded so deep, that all you could see was, "erbird 2" on her side. That sight was the most disturbing because that is where they figured the two men would be.  
  
Scott commanded, "Gordon, get the climbing gear." Jeff looked at Scott, thought for a moment and said, "Scott, this is your specialty, you command this rescue." Scott looked at his dad, and even though he automatically started the chain reaction that snowballs into a rescue, he felt that he needed his father to take charge. "I know what you are thinking, son, but you are much better at thinking on your feet in the midst of a rescue. And that is what we need to think of this as.... just another rescue. I will support you like I always do from Base but this time I won't be a thousand miles away." Jeff smiled at Scott and Scott nodded. Gordon then returned with various ropes, hooks carabiners, pitons and other climbing paraphernalia. They all started off for the hill that has laid claim to the nose of TB2.  
  
The going was rough as the impact of TB2 into the side of that hill loosened the soil and rock all around her. They found that they kept sliding down in mini-avalanches. Luckily they were not at a sheer section of rock, but more of a steep slope, so that the worst that was happening was that they would just slide back and lose ground. Scott was the first to reach the "e" of TB2's name. He banged on her side calling for John and Virgil. But a craft of that size capable of attaining the speeds that she does, has a very thick hull. Even if Virgil and John were in there and expecting the pounding they still won't have heard it. The windows were completely buried, so they couldn't look inside. But they made mental notes that one of the options would be to dig through the earth where the windows would be.  
  
Back at TB1, the radio was crackling "Thunder.1 from ..ird 2, Sco. can you .. me?!"  
  
Walt and Jerry had been bouncing along in the Jeep for 45 minutes now. "Hey Walt, I don't think we are going to find anything. Even if that explosion left a big ol' hole in the ground, it could be anywhere out here." "Yeah," said Walt, "I am beginning to think you are r..........HOLY COW!!! LOOKIT THAT, WOULD YA!" The Jeep had just come around the base of the plateau that Scott initially sat on when the explosion occurred and it nearly slid right into the chasm that sat before them. "WOW, what do you think cause this hole, Walt?" Walt just sat there in utter amazement. They both got out, walked to the edge and looked down. Walt said, "Hey, maybe we could market this as the 'Little Grand Canyon' and get some tourist money to come our way. It would sure help business and the town." "That's a great idea," Jerry answered, "Hey, what's that over there?" he said as he pointed along the edge of the crater. Walt said, "Dunno, let's go take a look". As they got closer, they saw it was a huge piece of black and green metal. "Hey, it's got a number 5 on it. No make that the number 2. Yeah, I think that's right, it is a 2." said Jerry as he reached out to touch it. "OUCH! Dang, it's hot. That explosion was over an hour ago and this thing is still hot." Walt said seriously, "Jer, that is a piece of machine. Some type of machine, dunno what, but I betcha that there was a human attached to it somehow. What's say we take a bit of a look around to see if someone got caught up in the blast?" Jerry answered, "Where do we start?" "I would say we start on the other side of the crater over there" pointed Walt as he just spotted more debris from Thunderbird 2. They jumped into the Jeep and skirted around the crater. They reached another blackened chunk of metal. As they prepared to get out and examine it they saw a larger piece just a few yards ahead which looked either red or orange under the charring. "Hey Walt, that's a jet engine! No doubt, that came off a plane of some sort." Jerry stated with authority. Walt queried, "You sure?" "Sure as tootin......that is a jet engine I say. I'm no expert, but I have gone to enough airshows to know what that is. Besides what else could it be? I betcha a jet got caught in the explosion." Cynical, Walt said "now what would a jet be doing this close to the ground?" Jerry replied, "Dunno. Maybe they caused the explosion? Maybe this is all that is left, the rest disintegrated upon impact in that hole. Think we should call the authorities?" "Not yet, let's look s'more. There is still debris scatted ahead of us." "Walt? You got binoculars in that there Jeep of yours?" asked Jerry. "Sure, under the right rear seat. Why?" Jerry pointed in the direction of where TB2 laid almost a mile away.  
  
"HOLY COW, Walt you gotta see this!" yelled Jerry peering through the binoculars, "I told you it was an jet plane, better yet, a rocket ship!" Walt grabbed the binoculars out of Jerry's hands "Man, what are those things? Think they are UFO's?" spotting TB1 as well. Jerry looked at Walt in disgust "NO, they are not UFO's, but they could be military. Let's go see." Walt, now getting nervous said, "that may not be such a good idea. Supposed they are UFO's or if they are military, not friendly military. Maybe they are from another country and they were going to attack us but blew themselves up instead?!" I think now we should head back and get the authorities." "Chicken! You been inhaling too much of your own chicken feed in that store of yours. Put a yeller streak right down your back. C'mon, there is only one way to find out what that is and that is to go there. We can go quiet like and hug the edge of the hills, staying in the shadows, ok?" Reluctantly Walt agreed and they headed off towards the two Thunderbirds.  
  
The four International Rescue men studied where the nose was impaled in the hill. They climb up and over scrutinizing every inch of her to find a weak spot where they could get in. Their hike took them over the top and on the other side, out of view of TB1. The ropes came in handy on this side. Walt and Jerry slowly drove out of the shadows towards a deserted TB1. "Jerry? Didn't you say that there was a number 2 on the chunk of metal back there?" asked Walt. "Yeah, why?" "There's a 2 on the big green thing just after 'erbird', whatever than means." replied Walt. "WALT, These aren't UFO's or military. Look at the smaller one over there, underneath it says "Thunderbird 1, and that 'erbird 2' is probably Thunderbird 2. I never saw them for real or pictures of them, but the papers describe those ships in plenty of details. These crafts belong to International Rescue. Dang, we are in the presence of International Rescue!" "Jer, I hate to say it, but take at look at that big one, it is not in the condition I would expect if they were rescuing someone else. I think that one got caught up in the explosion and they are the one's needing the help." Without waiting for a response from Jerry, Walter yelled out. "HELLLLO, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE......ANYONE AROUND?!"  
  
Brains and the Tracys looked at each other at the sound of a strange voice. They were nearly at the tail section of TB2 now, so they hurried on down the rest of the slope and appeared from behind the tail section. "Who are you, and what do you want?" demanded Scott. "Easy son" Jeff whispered, "they are probably just curious people from around here. They probably don't mean any harm". "Ok, father" Scott mumbled quietly. Walt threw up his hands "Take it easy fella, we don't mean to alarm you". "Sorry," apologized Scott, "it's just that we have two members that are in that ship."  
  
Just then, there was another crackle of static on TB1's radio. All six people looked simultaneously at her when Scott bolted towards her. He was inside in a flash. "Thunderbird 1 here, go ahead." "Scott, it's me Alan." Scott, sounding agitated asked, "Why didn't you call on our watch communicators?" Alan, now obviously upset said, "I thought you would be in TB1 or the Mobile Control Center, which has a better radio link. Besides I was keeping the frequency open for the watches just in case John or Virgil tried to contact us". Scott feeling bad said, "I'm sorry Alan, that was a good choice you made. You were right to keep the communications from the watch frequencies open. What can I do for you?" "Well, I, um.....you're at the crash site, and I, um....ummmm, I don't know what it looks like or how bad it is." stammered Alan. Blushing slightly Scott replied, "I'm sorry again, Alan I forgot that you don't know what's going on. We just walked completely around her studying the possibilities. But we don't have a solution yet. There are two guys who....." Another crackle was heard "..bird1 from Th....bird2, ....body, there?" Scott grabbed the mike with both hands, holding tight, staring at it.  
  
Jeff, Brains and Gordon were standing around discussing what the best possible plan of attack would be. The two visitors just off to the side being ignored. With so many rescues under their belts, the International Rescue team had learned to concentrate on what they were doing with so many bystanders constantly watching each rescue.  
  
"u-uh, Mr. Tracy, I think the f-f-fastest and easiest option is to b-break the clamps holding the p-p-pod to T-T-TB2. We will just let it f-f-fall out of the way, then we w-w-would have easy access through the b-b-back entrance into the c-c-cockpit area." Jeff looked up at the huge ship. Many of the clamps had already been broken. The action would damage the pod even further, but from what he could see, it is so badly damaged, it really won't make that much of a difference. Due to the angle and height, the pod would probably take about two to three rolls before coming to rest. That would take it plenty far from TB2 so as not to hinder any rescue operations. He would feel better though if he had something to lift everyone up to the doorway once the pod was gone. That way if Virgil and John needed help getting out, they could simply be put on the lift. He suddenly turned to the two men, "Is there a town near here?" Jerry answered, "yes, just about 30 miles, thata way." He said pointing towards the southwest. "Do you have any type of construction equipment or heavy machinery?" Jeff inquired. "Why, sure, ol' Walt here has a feed and grain farm store. He's got tractors, backhoes, buckets and front-end loaders out back of his store. I got me a hardware store. I can get you anything you need for cutting, supporting or chaining", said an eager Jerry.  
  
Jeff looked at Gordon and Brains and said, "Let's go shopping".  
  
It took several moments for him to answer, "John, Virgil, is that you!!" He turned to yell out the viewport, "DAD! I think I heard from John and Virgil".  
  
John heard Thunderbird 1 land, and he scrambled to find the flashlight and shoot it towards the hole that the auger made. Just as he was about to grab it and aim it in that direction, Virgil awoke. He didn't say anything, but he turned his head to look around and John saw that movement. He scurried back towards Virgil. "Virg, don't move, you are pretty badly banged up. You are pinned under the Mole, we don't know all that is wrong with you. Just stay perfectly still, ok?" Virgil looked at him with rheumy eyes, "What happened, did a rescue go wrong? Where are we?" The words came out in barely a whisper. "Did we save anyone, did we lose anyone?" With that, Virgil moved ever so slightly which was a mistake. He groaned loudly, then yelled, "JOHN!" He then passed out. John sat right there next to Virgil, holding his hand. The one that he just freed up not too long ago to get to Virgil's watch com. He decided to try it again since he knew that Scott was right outside. "Thunderbird 1 from Thunderbird 2, Scott can you hear me?!" 


	7. Convoy

The three IR personnel ran into TB1 when they heard Scott yell. Somebody was alive in Thunderbird 2. They could only hope that they both were.  
  
Scott answered the page, "Thunderbird 2 go ahead, are you both ok?!"  
  
"shrshr.crkl...both alive...crkrk...broken...shrhrhr....hole..", was all that they heard. Gordon's heart skipped a beat when he heard the few clear words, but needed to say it anyway, "I heard 'both alive', didn't you?" Everyone nodded in agreement. "Brains said, "L-l-loud and c-c-clear!"  
  
Jeff was revved for action knowing that both of his boys are alive. A sense of relief washed over him, as did a new sense of urgency to get his boys out now. "OK", said Jeff, "We could all stand around here trying to communicate or we can get to work. Scott, you stay here and try to get as much information as possible. Tell them what we are doing just in case they can read us better than we can read them. The rest of us are going with the two civilians to their town to pick up some heavier equipment."  
  
All five men got into the Jeep and headed back towards Hogs Hollow. Jeff and Brains had been chatting in the back non-stop trying to think of the best way to utilize the equipment and which pieces to buy. When they reached town, they parked in front of Jerry's hardware store, aptly named 'Jerry's Hardware Store'. Gordon went into the hardware store and Jeff and Brains went next door to Walt's store 'Hogs Hollow Feed and Supply'. Walt led them around back where the larger pieces of equipment sat. There were huge combines, plows, tractors, elevator lifts, you name it, it was back there. Jeff pointed to the truck with a bucket on it, the kind that telephone men use to fix the wires at the top of poles. "We'll take that". He then pointed to a Cat front-end loader. "If you've got two of those, I'll take them". They walked amongst the machinery. Jeff stopped and looked at a little Bobcat, but then continued on. He looked at the backhoe and said, "that one too". He turned to Walt and asked "do you have a flatbed that can haul these pieces to the site?" Jeff was surprised when Walt said "yes, we got one." There were other pieces that Jeff was second guessing himself about, but he knew that there was just so much he could get back to the rescue site in sufficient amount of time. Jeff turned to Walt and asked "I think this will do, what do I owe you?" Walt answered, "You can't buy this stuff." Jeff, not understanding glared at Walt, "What do you mean, I can't buy it?" Walt simply replied, "Your money is no good here. You can borrow anything you'd like, but you can't buy or lease any of it." Blushing slightly, Jeff said, "Thank you, but we really can." Walt held up his hand to shush Jeff, he would hear no more about it. Jeff then asked Walt if he could start getting the pieces loaded up on the flatbed while he walked around and met up with Gordon in front of the hardware store. Gordon picked up an entire roll of heavy-duty chain and extra hooks. He also had with him an acetylene torch and halogen lights, the kind used to help road crews to work at night. He didn't need anything more as they have most of the smaller hardware in TB1 already. They really came for the big equipment. Gordon looked at his dad, "Jerry won't let me pay for any of this, even though I insisted." Jeff just nodded, "That's ok, Walt did the same."  
  
Walt came down the main street driving a truck with the loaded flatbed attached. He had someone in the passenger seat with him. Jerry was driving the telephone truck with the bucket. Another man switched places with Jerry, and Jerry took Walt's Jeep. Walt got out of the truck to check to make sure that they had everything when several more pickup trucks and SUVs pulled onto the main street. Jeff looked around at all the help that was showing up. Walt saw his confusion and stated, "Don't fight it. You need help and we want to help. Simple as that! So just shut up, and get into the Jeep so that we can get on our way." Walt climbed back into his truck, leaving Jeff with his mouth open. He then climbed into the Jeep with Brains and Gordon in the back and the caravan proceeded to leave town. What a sight it was, a Jeep in the lead, followed by a flatbed with three big heavy pieces of equipment on it, followed by a bucket truck and the five pickups and SUVs filled with people bringing up the rear. Jeff turned around to look at this convoy. He was just amazed that so many people cared. He noticed one more vehicle joining at the end of the line, an ambulance. It pained his heart to see it, but he knew that he probably would need it more than not. He was glad that whoever set up this little procession of help also thought of the ambulance.  
  
Jerry looked in the rearview mirror and noticed the ambulance joining at the end. He also noticed Jeff looking around behind him and saw his face sadden a bit. "Our town doc is coming too. Hopefully he won't be needed much." "Thanks", was all that Jeff could muster.  
  
When almost there, Jeff asked, "How did word get out so fast?" Jerry looked at him and smiled. "I'm also the mayor, I know who the busiest bodies are in town. One or two phone calls and that's all she took!" Jeff grinned at that Mayberry-like communication. .  
  
After John spoke into the watch com he was overcome with joy and relief with he heard his brother Scott. The transmission was a little fuzzy, but he got most of what Scott was saying. The worst being that Scott could hardly understand anything John was saying to him. Panic was starting to well up inside John however at the realization of what Scott was saying, ".. cut the remaining clamps on the pod so that it falls away. We can then get through to you from the back entrance. Father went to the town to find some heavier equipment to speed things up a bit. Hopefully we will have you out by dark."  
  
"Oh my God", he thought, "they still think that the two of us are still in the cockpit. We will die for sure is they just cut the pod loose."  
  
"We're in the pod, not in the cockpit, we're in the pod, not in the cockpit!!" screamed John into the watch com.  
  
But all that Scott heard was "we're.crckl,crkcl, .cockpit..sprsprr..pod.." Mentally he translated that as, "we're in the cockpit, ok to cut the pod loose".  
  
  
  
The convoy pulled up to the scene as Scott looked out the viewport. "Where did all the people come from? Don't they have anything better to do than to gawk at a rescue of what most probably will be two bloody men getting pulled out?" he thought in anger. He climbed out of TB1 as the Jeep came to a halt. Jeff and the other two got out and walked up to Scott as Walt, Jerry and several other men started to unhook the heavy machinery and get it off the flatbed. Scott asked, "Is this some morbid peep show?" Allowing his anger to show. Jeff, shushed him, "they are here to help, all of them. What have you heard from John and Virgil?"  
  
Scott told him that he thinks they receive more information from him then he did from them but what he has from them is not much more than what they had before Jeff went to town. "I did explain to them what our plans are, and I think John acknowledged that they are in the cockpit and that it is ok to let the pod loose. But," he said quietly, "I'm not sure. The only thing I know for sure is that John is the only voice I have heard so far. Nothing from Virgil."  
  
"Ok, keep trying with the communications, I will get the rescue started." Jeff said, as he turned towards all the help and heavy machinery.  
  
"Brains, take the laser cutter and start cutting the clamps on the back end of the pod. There are more there, but the laser cuts faster than acetylene. Make sure you anchor yourself up there. I don't know what kind of kickback you will receive when the pod goes, and it could go unexpectantly." Jeff warned.  
  
"o-k-k-kay, Mr. Tracy."  
  
"Gordon, you take the acetylene up to the front of the pod and start there. Anchor your ..."  
  
"I know dad," interrupted Gordon, "just in case Thunderbird 2 kicks like a mule!"  
  
"Walt, take the backhoe and place the bucket under the center of the pod, just for a little support while the clamps are being cut. Uh, never mind. We won't be able to move you out of the way fast enough if the clamps go. Just make sure that everything and everybody stays away from this pathway," Jeff indicated with both arms the path away from TB2 that the pod will most probably take when it falls, "we don't want to have to rescue anyone other than those two inside there." Tilting his head towards TB2.  
  
When both Brains and Gordon were on the top of TB2 and anchored, Jeff yelled, "Ok boys. I want to try to keep the number or clamps even on both the front and back. It should make for a cleaner break. Brains, to start with, I want you to do three clamps to each of Gordon's. Then back off to two, then as we near having most clamps cut, I want you to stay one-on-one with Gordon. This means you would have to go slower since you have the faster tool."  
  
"S-s-sure thing, Mr. Tracy."  
  
Brains started cutting the clamps. When he finished one Gordon would start on his first clamp. Brains could do his next two as Gordon finished up with one.  
  
John was trying frantically to figure how to tell Scott that they were both in the pod when he heard the first PING of a clamp going. "Oh God, they've started!!" He screamed again into Virgil's watch com, "WE ARE IN THE POD!!! WE ARE IN THE POD!!" 


	8. PING

Scott heard the crackle of the com again, but couldn't make anything out this time. He was getting worried, he had a bad feeling about this. Something was wrong, terribly wrong.  
  
  
  
John heard several more PINGS and then the low groan of a great ship breaking apart. He grabbed for the flashlight and aimed it at the auger hole again. While he was shining the light there, he tried to climb as close to it as he could. He needed to hold the flashlight with his broken arm as he used his good arm to pull him up the side of the slanted floor. Although he was still several feet away, he started screaming, "WE ARE IN THE POD! WE ARE IN THE POD!!"  
  
PING  
  
Jeff walked up to Walt and said, "I think we should start Plan B just in case Plan A doesn't work. Can you send several people up to the nose of TB2 and start digging? Just make sure you stay out of the path of the pod should it break loose."  
  
"No problem, Jeff. What are we looking for?" returned Walt.  
  
"Thunderbird 2 has a set of windows that should be easy to find and break, if they aren't already broken. We should be able to dig a tunnel through the windows into the cockpit area. We could also cut a hole above the dirt line, but both cutters are in use right now, so I would like to start digging. Plan C will be to cut our way in." answered Jeff.  
  
"Boy you guys are good, Plan C already." Walt said under his breath as he walked away.  
  
PING  
  
Walt walked towards the crowd of milling people and told them the plan. He picked five men who grabbed shovels and picks that they brought with them and sent them up the hill to the nose of the great ship. As he was looking up, he noticed light coming from the auger hole. He turned away and followed the other five up the steep hill to the nose.  
  
PING  
  
Walt started the 5 men digging around the nose of TB2. It was easy going at first because the soil had been loosened at impact and most of what was sitting on her nose was that which had fallen from above. He walked back down looking at all the heavy machinery that was not in use and tried to think of what he could use them for right now to hurry up the rescue. He had an idea. It wasn't earth shattering, but may help a bit in the rescue, so he walked over to Jeff who was going over some of TB2 specs with Scott. The Tracys looked up when Walt approached. Scott quietly closed the set of plans that he was holding. Jeff asked, "How's it going Walt?" Walt replied, "I sent 5 men up to start digging around the windows. By the way, is there something inside that thing that would flash?"  
  
PING  
  
Jeff looked at Walt, "What do you mean flash?".  
  
"Well, when I looked up at the bottom of your ship, I saw a light through the hole made by that giant auger." Said Walt. Jeff paled instantly.  
  
"GORDON, BRAINS STOP IMMEDIATELY!!" Jeff yelled into his watch com. "STOP NOW, DO NOT CUT ANY MORE CLAMPS!!! DON'T EVEN FINISH THE ONES YOU ARE WORKING ON!!"  
  
PING  
  
Gordon and Brains looked up simultaneously. They were almost through. In fact the last one that broke, did so with the torch only going ½ through it.  
  
Jeff yelled to Walt, "get the two front end loaders, on the double. Lift the buckets up to the pod, one in front and one in back and support it. Hold it as still as you can."  
  
"Right away Jeff", and Walt was off in a flash. He personally took one of the Cats and he had Jerry take the other. The two machines roared to life and moved into position. Each front end bucket extending up to it's full height. The sharp pronged bottom lip being used to support the pod.  
  
Both Gordon and Brains asked into their coms at the same time, "What's wrong?"  
  
Jeff answered, "The boys are in the pod, or at least one of them is". He took a deep breath when he saw the two cats holding up the pod. "My God, I almost killed my boys." Shaking his head, he said to no one in particular.  
  
Scott took his dad and escorted him to a seat. "Dad, it's ok, we caught it in time. Remember, 'almost' only counts in horseshoes and grenades. Take a deep breath, and let's figure out what the next plan of action should be."  
  
Gordon and Brains unharnessed themselves as soon as they realized the situation and trotted down to Scott and Jeff on the double. Jeff looked up when the two came over and he saw Walt walking over. Walt had locked the cat in the support position. It will remain still like that until the operator releases it. "Walt, I don't know what to say. If you hadn't seen.. If you didn't speak up.." Jeff just shook his head as he sat white faced. Walt also lost all the color to his face as he realized he almost didn't speak up about the light he saw. He walked over to Jeff and his sons (Brains being included as one of his sons). "Jeff, it can still work. The cats are in the center of the pod both front and back. Your two operatives," nodding towards Gordon and Brains, "can still cut away the clamps but instead of falling away, it should just end up resting on the bucket tines of the cats. We can then just lower it gently to the ground. You can then enter through whatever door that pod thing has."  
  
Jeff said, " that sounds like a good idea." Turning to Brains, "what do you think Brains?"  
  
"I-I-I think it is a s-s-sound idea, Mr. Tracy, b-b-but I would like to g-g- get a better communicator to the b-b-boys first. B-b-but we c-c-can't lower it c-c-completely to the g-g-ground because the auger is s-s-sticking out."  
  
"I agree, Brains." Jeff then turned to Walt. "Get that cherry picker over here. Can you get me up to the hole?"  
  
Walt answered, "I will do one better, the best cherry picker in the county is here, I will have him do it."  
  
"Scott, where's the extra com?" Jeff asked. Scott grinning, "Here dad, I anticipated that you wanted the spare. I will go to the main console, since it has a stronger signal and since John can hear us I will let him know that we are giving him a com that works. How are you going to give it to him?"  
  
"Tell John that I am going to push it through the hole where the auger is."  
  
Scott ran back into TB1 and Jeff climbed aboard the cherry picker.  
  
John sat frozen in fear. "One move and the whole thing could come crashing down with us in here," he thought. He had scrambled back down to Virgil when he didn't hear any more PINGs. All was quiet now. He just sat there holding Virgil's hand. Virgil was last conscience when he moved that tiny bit. His breathing now had a wet sound to it. John was concerned that if his father and brothers do get them out, it won't be in time to help Virgil. He was startled out of his thoughts by Virgil's watch com.  
  
"Thunderbird 2, this is Scott. We know that at least one of you guys is in the pod. Dad is using a cherry picker to get up to the hole that the auger made and he plans to drop another watch com to you through the hole. This should hopefully clear up communications. We aren't going to do anything until we hear from you loud and clear. I hope you are reading all of this. Scott out."  
  
  
  
Jeff was almost at the hole. The operator of the cherry picker, skillfully aimed it so that it went along side the dangerous protruding auger. There was quite a bit a space between the auger and TB2's skin. Jeff could fit his whole hand in that space. He called out, "John, can you hear me? Can you see my hand near the auger?"  
  
John yelled, "Yes Dad, I can. If you release the watch right where your hand is now, it will slide almost all the way down to me."  
  
Jeff released the watch then waited.  
  
Jeff's watch came to life seconds later and he saw John's sallow face. He looked terrible. But he was alive! Jeff motioned for the cherry picker to start dropping down now that John as communications. But he continued to talk to John, he needed to know exactly how everyone is.  
  
"John, give me an update, tell me exactly how you and Virgil are and what is your predicament. We need to find an alternative plan to getting you out."  
  
John swallowed hard. No one knew Virgil's condition yet. "Dad, Virgil is pinned under the chassis of the pod. He is in very bad condition. I am not sure he is going to make it. I know his ribs are broken and he is bleeding somewhere. He looks like he broke his cheekbone as well. He wasn't strapped into his seat when Thunderbird 2 went down."  
  
That last sentence brought tears to Jeff's eyes. Scott was on the com too as John was describing Virgil's injuries. He ran around the corner of some rock outcropping and got sick. He saw what TB2 did when the explosion hit, and the thought that Virgil wasn't strapped in sent nauseating pictures through his mind.  
  
The great ship moaned again. 


	9. The pod is loose

John just froze at the sound of the moaning. He prayed that his family would get him and his brother out in time.  
  
"John, are you ok in there?" Jeff asked at the sudden silence by his son. John quietly replied, "sure dad. I just thought for a moment there that the pod was going to break loose. Have you thought on how to get us out of here?"  
  
"John, don't worry about the pod falling, I have two Cat front end loaders supporting it. And I am going over with Brains the idea of continuing what we were doing, but gently lowering the pod with the two loaders. How does that sound with you?  
  
"Dad, it is pretty unstable in here, I am not so sure that will work. You can't put us completely on the ground because of the auger. If anything touches that, Virgil's a goner."  
  
Jeff continued, "John, is the Mole wedged tightly enough to handle a change in the floor angle? What else might be affected?"  
  
"Dad, the Mole looks jammed in pretty tight, but the chassis is a little loose. I am more concerned about some of the toolboxes that were connected to the side of the pod but are now dangling freely overhead. There is also a mountain of debris next to Virgil, but I think that would probably fall away from us as you level off the pod."  
  
"Brains, are you getting any of this?" asked Jeff.  
  
"Y-y-yes, Mr. Tracy. C-c-could we send John a l-l-length of chain w-w-with hooks so that he can s-s-secure the chassis t-t-to the Mole?"  
  
"Brains, dad, I am not sure how much securing I can do, my left arm is busted up pretty badly." John interrupted.  
  
Jeff said, "Son, I didn't know this. In fact you haven't given me any information about yourself. What else is wrong?"  
  
"Don't worry Dad, I'll live. The arm is the worst. I ache all over, so I am not sure if anything else is actually broken, or just bruised. I am having a little trouble breathing; I took a hit in the ribs. I am also a bit feverish, but that is to be expected with broken bones. I will be fine, but I am anxious to get Virgil out. He's really got me worried. His breathing is getting worse.  
  
By the time John finished talking, Jeff was off the cherry picker and walking up to Scott, Gordon and Brains. Still talking into his watch com to John, Jeff finished by saying, "I know son. I want him out now too. Hang in there, I am right here with Scott, Brains and Gordon. We will find the fastest, safest way to get the two of you out of there."  
  
To the rest standing there, he said, "OK boys, the way I see it, we are going to have some major work to do inside the pod to get the Mole off of Virgil. I do not want to do that with the pod suspended way up there. Too risky. John is not sure about bringing the pod down. But I think the only option we have right now is to do just that. We can take it very slowly. If we can get enough of the pod cleared away from TB2, we can cut a hole in the door on the side, instead of trying to cut through the reinforced bottom. Then we can send someone in there to help secure the chassis so that we can get the pod all the way down. Brains, how long would it take to cut through the part of the auger sticking out the bottom?"  
  
Brains replied, "O-o-over several hours, Mr. T-t-tracy. The auger is m-m- made of the s-s-strongest material I c-c-could think of t-t-to be able to d- d-dig through the t-t-toughest barriers. H-h-how about s-s-setting the pod on an e-e-elevated platform of s-s-some sort?"  
  
Jeff called Walt and Jerry over. Both Cats were locked in position and were stable for the moment. "Guys, can you think of anything that we could sit the pod on, securely, so that the auger doesn't hit the ground?"  
  
The two guys looked at each other and Jerry said, 'We'll go ask around the others. We'll be right back."  
  
Jeff watched the two men trot off. He turned back to his family and said, "ok, let's say we do find something."  
  
Brains said, "If we c-c-could sit the pod on f-f-four blocks, then we c-c- could very quickly c-c-cut a hold in the s-s-side and get several men inside. I d-d-don't know what the inside l-l-looks like, but I think we have s-s-several options s-s-since we brought so m-m-much chain with us. We c-c-could hoist the Mole up if a-a-any of the roof r-r-rings are intact, or we c-c-could c-c-cut a large hole in the roof and have the b-b-backhoe lift the mole. Maybe s-s-simple leverage is all that is n-n-needed to get the chassis off V-V-Virgil."  
  
Jeff turned around when he saw the other three looking past him. He saw Jerry running at full speed with a shit-eating grin on his face. "You won't.gasp,gasp, . believe our luck. gasp, gasp...we..", "catch your breath.", said Jeff. "Sit, take a couple of breaths, then tell us the good news." Inwardly, Jeff was screaming "out with it already!".  
  
Jerry took a deep breath, "Bubba used to work in the now defunct construction company that had it's building out here in the middle of nowhere. They thought that everything would build up around them, I guess. Anyway, you know those huge cement blocks, the ones with holes in them? They stand about 15 feet high? They can hold a lot of weight.".  
  
"Yeah, I know, I know, but what about them?" urged Jeff impatiently.  
  
"Well," Jerry continued, "when the construction company folded, they left everything behind, including a whole slew of them things. It is only 10 minutes thata way." He said pointed to the southwest.  
  
"My God," Jeff thought. "Could we be so lucky? What are the chances that something like this would be here out in the middle of nowhere?" To Brains he said, "Brains, you know what Jerry is talking about, can 4 of them hold the pod?"  
  
"S-s-sure, Mr. Tracy. The o-o-only real weight in the p-p-pod is the Mole. The p-p-pod is hollow so it's r-r-relatively is light."  
  
To Jerry, Jeff asked, "Ok, so how do we get them here?"  
  
Jerry smugly replied, "Oh Jeff..." And he pointed to the backhoe and the flatbed. "You cut me to the quick with that question."  
  
"Then be off you. Hurry up and get them back here." Ordered Jeff, with a smile.  
  
Jerry ran into the group of men still standing around waiting for something to do. He grabbed several of them, grabbed a long length of chain, 2 hooks, loaded the backhoe onto the flatbed and roared on out of the area.  
  
To Walt who just came walking back up, Jeff said, "Let's see what we can do to slowly lower that pod." Walt saluted and trotted back to the one Cat, while calling another fellow, named Bob over to take controls of the second one. Jeff turned to Gordon and Brains, "get back up on top of TB2 and continue cutting the clamps." Turning to Scott, "Scott, contact John and let him know what we are doing. Keep in constant contact. I want to know the second something goes wrong inside."  
  
"Sure thing," said Scott.  
  
Scott and Jeff walked over to Walt, who was manning one of the Cats. Scott was bringing John up to date on the plan of action as they were walking. Yelling up to Gordon and Brains, bypassing the watch com so that the channel would remain open for John, Jeff said, "Boys, continue cutting according to the original plans. We want to make sure this pod rests on the Cats evenly on both sides. If it tips one way or the other, we will have two dead Tracys boys. GOT IT!?"  
  
Brains and Gordon, watching each other carefully nodded and went back to work cutting the clamps.  
  
As more clamps broke their connection between pod and ship, the two men sitting in the Cats could feel the weight shift on the one side closest to the great ship. Since the pod was at such a great angle, only the corner of the large buckets was in contact with the pod. As they lower the buckets, the pod will slowly shift more and more eventually resting on the whole bucket and not just the corner. But this was still the stickiest part of the whole operation. If they were not centered right, the weight of the pod would just tip the Cats over, crushing the operators and killing those inside. Jeff couldn't remember a more dangerous mission. He had such sophisticated equipment and none of it was available to him right now. Maybe he should think of getting another cargo ship built like TB2. He put that in the back of his mind for later thought.  
  
Inside John was listening to the play by play from Scott. He was looking around, watching everything carefully, ready to cover Virgil if anything were to fall. He was holding Virgil's hand. Virgil was moaning lightly, as he wasn't completely out of it and John was sure that if he tried, he could wake Virgil up. But he didn't want to at this point. He thought it best that Virgil be out during this. John was getting more and more anxious with every ping he heard. He knew the situation was more under control now but the sound was still nerve wracking. He could feel movement now. A little bit of swaying here, a change in angle there. And moaning. The great ship was moaning with every fraction of an inch she took.  
  
There was a sudden lurch down, catching John off guard. He let go of Virgil's hand in order to stop himself from falling over and sliding down the floor incline. Several of the boxes broke from their moorings and came crashing down. Luckily they were mostly towards the back of the pod. But one box hit the mountain of debris sending it avalanching down towards the two of them. John quickly regained his balance and deliberately fell across Virgil's head to protect him. He felt a soft thud on his back, a little bit more crashing about then things quieted down. Something hit him, but it wasn't heavy. He slowly got off Virgil and looked around. "PHEW!" he thought, "that was close."  
  
Scott was calling into the com, "Everything ok John? The last of the clamps broke away, you dropped a couple of feet."  
  
John answered, "Other that you giving me a heart attack, we're fine. Some stuff did fall but nothing hit us."  
  
"Ok, hang on, we are going to actually start lowering the pod. We aren't going too far, just enough to take the strain off the corner of the buckets. We have to wait to see what the fellas bring back for supports for you."  
  
Gordon and Brains had scrambled off TB2 when the last of the clamps gave way. They were standing with Jeff and Scott. Scott thought Jeff looked pale, but he was still as commanding as ever. Funny, but he thought his dad wanted HIM to do the rescue, but Jeff being Jeff, just slid right into the command position. Scott didn't mind. He was actually grateful his dad took the reins.  
  
"Ok, gentlemen," Jeff called, "the hardest thing right now is to have the both of you staying synchronized while lowering the pod."  
  
"Gotcha Jeff." Called Walt. Then to his fellow Cat operator he called, "Bob, you follow my lead. Shift the engine power to level 2. Push the winch lever in ¾ of the way. Got it so far?" Bob shook his head yes. "Now let's slowly squeeze the lever and start lowering this sucker."  
  
John felt the pod start to level out. It was changing very slowly, and he was watching everything. He kept his eye on Virgil, and the chocks supporting the chassis on top of him. He was watching the laser cutter box straight above him, very carefully as it swung back and forth. He looked around to make sure the debris mountain didn't shift at all sending anything on top of them. He had a tight hold of Virgil's hand while watching everything and listening to Scott, who was giving him the play-by- play and just generally making him feel better with his soothing voice.  
  
Suddenly the pod bucked and shifted on the second cat, swaying towards the corner on one side, but not the other. The cat leaned a bit towards the ship, straining to right itself. Walt called, "Bob, don't be heroic, jump if you can't hold her!" Bob yelled back, "I can hold her, I can hold her!! Bring your end down a couple of feet. Hurry!"  
  
Walt did as told, and the pod thunked into a more stable position and Cat number 2 was able to get centered again. Just as the pod plunked down into the new position, Scott heard screams from the watch com, "STOP, STOP!!, Don't move anym..." 


	10. Into the pod

Jerry was rolling in with his prize. On the flatbed, he had two behemoths of cement blocks stacked in the front, two more in the back and the backhoe centered between them. As he approached the site, he saw that Jeff was running towards the cherry picker, Scott looking down at his sleeve, Brains running towards Jeff, and Walt leaving the Cat. "What happened" he wondered. Upon seeing the scene, the joy he had been feeling at bringing back the blocks was doused.  
  
Walt and Bob locked their Cats in place. Walt got out and ran up to Jeff as he waited for the bucket to be lowered to him. Brains was running towards Jeff with his laser cutter. Scott was trying to reach John on the watch communicator. Gordon was just standing in shock looking up at the pod.  
  
"WE'RE IN, WE BROKE THROUGH!!" came a cry from above.  
  
Everyone looked up and over at the nose of TB2. Jeff had completely forgotten about the 5 men digging towards the windows. They had finally made it through to the cockpit. Scott, Jeff, Gordon, Brains and Walt all ran up the hill pulling themselves up the ropes that had been secured there the first time they climbed up to the nose of TB2. Two of the diggers were standing on the outside, but the other three were inside. They had made a significant sized tunnel. The men still had to crawl on their hands and knees to get into TB2, but it was fairly easy. Jeff was hoping that he could get into the pod the same way John and Virgil did. He slid through the window that was obviously already broken before the diggers got there, and down the dirt slide that covered the console and instrumentation panel. He stood up and looked at the carnage. It was weird standing on TB2's wall and not her floor. He saw that the pilot's chair was broken and no longer bolted to the floor, but one of the passenger seats was still ok. There were wires hanging all over, the instrumentation panel was covered with dirt and what wasn't covered was badly damaged. He looked towards the back to a huge gaping hole, ragged and sharp. That was how Virgil and John had gotten into the pod. But it is not how he is going to get in there. The pod had moved just enough that the hole on the pod side no longer aligned with the hole on the cockpit side.  
  
Jeff's heart sank.  
  
They crawled back out the window. Jeff said to the five diggers, "Nice job fellas." And climbed down the steep path. While the others were inside, Jerry had already started unloading the blocks. He had two of them off the flatbed and positioned just beside the pod. He couldn't position them under the pod because the pod was already too low for the backhoe to maneuver under it. As Jeff reached the bottom of the slope he headed back to the cherry picker. He picked up the laser cutter that Brains had dropped when they all bolted up the hill and proceeded to board the bucket. Jerry came over and asked Jeff, "What happened?"  
  
Jeff replied, "I don't have time for details, but I have to get up there and cut a hole in the pod and get to my men. We lost communications when the pod bucked and slipped."  
  
Jerry put his hand on Jeff's arm. "Jeff, we can have those blocks under the pod before you can cut into it. We can stabilize it and get in faster if we concentrate on getting the blocks under it and the pod down on top of them." Jeff looked at Jerry with sunken eyes. He knew Jerry was right. But he just had to get inside to see if his sons were ok. Then from behind him, Scott spoke, "Da. um. Jeff, Jerry is right. There isn't that much more distance that the pod needs to come down, should be a smooth quick ride all the way. And once is it blocked up, we can work with lightening speed to get John and Virgil out."  
  
"Ok" Jeff said with a sigh, as he stepped out of the cherry picker. Walt standing nearby waved the cherry picker out of the way, while Jerry went back to the chore of getting the blocks under the pod. Before Jeff realized what was happening, two pickup trucks, one with a reinforced welded front end attacked one of the blocks. The bigger of the two, the Dodge Ram pushed the block under the pod so that the far front corner of the pod could rest on it. He could see that it was in four-wheel drive and could hear the engine strain against the weight. The second a Toyota Tundra, a full size pickup, but a tad smaller than the Dodge, would push from the side of the block to keep it aligned underneath the pod. When some of the onlookers saw their fellow townsmen basically trashing their trucks to help get two men out alive, two more jumped in their trucks, one a pickup, the other a huge SUV and proceeded to attack the second block that was on the ground. Within minutes both blocks sat in the perfect position to hold the far end of the pod both front and back. The four trucks got out of the way while the backhoe delivered the next two sets of blocks. Again the four trucks attacked the blocks with vigor and centered them perfectly on the near side of the pod, both front and back. Jeff couldn't believe his eyes as he watched four men severely damage their trucks just to save two others who may no longer even be alive.  
  
Jerry cleared the backhoe away, then waved the trucks to move on. One truck died and needed to be pushed by one of the other still functioning pickups. When everyone was cleared out of the way Walt and Bob climbed back in their Cats and synchronized their task at hand. Once again, with a moan and a creak, the pod started on it's descending journey. What seemed liked forever, the deep sounding clunk of each corner hitting a block resounded around the onlookers. The Pod has landed.  
  
The pod was still elevated but was now much closer to the ground and more stable. Jeff ran up to the hole the auger made and yelled into the pod, "John, John, are you ok?"  
  
Silence.  
  
Scott standing in front of the pod saw that the front bay door was completely cleared from TB2. He ran up the slope and crawled back into the cockpit of TB2. He was looking for the portable transmitter that opens the pod doors. TB2 has a permanent transmitter on the console in front of Virgil, but there is also one that is secured to the wall with clamps. Much to his delight, that was one of the few items still where it should have been. He unclamped it and grabbed it off the wall. Holding the transmitter Scott scrambled back out the tunnel, and without even climbing back down, he pointed the transmitter and pushed the button. With a moan and a grind, the pod door reluctantly started to open up. Protesting at every inch.  
  
Not realizing that Scott did this, everyone quickly back up from the pod thinking it was falling over or breaking up. Jeff realized quickly that the pod doors were opening. It saved him from having to cut into the pod. Although the door stopped several feet above the ground because the pod was elevated several more feet above the ground, he could still hop up and clamor into the pod. The sight that greeted him would stun any man.  
  
  
  
When John felt the second jolt, he could see debris from the mountain start to fall down in his and Virgil's direction. He instinctively covered Virgil with his own body. He started to yell for them to stop moving the pod, when he glanced over his shoulder, up at the laser box, just as it broke it's moorings. 


	11. One down

Jeff was standing at the opening to the pod, frozen in his steps. He didn't see the others jumping on up. Walt and Jerry, already at the opening, looked inside, looked at each other and then back inside of the pod. It was trashed. Tools, equipment, larger machines, especially the big one with the auger sticking through the floor and debris were scattered all over. As they were looking over the scene, something fell with a bang towards the back. Scott came up beside his dad, put his hand on his dad's back and the two of them started for the Mole. Gordon and Brains were right behind them  
  
Unlike the view John had for the past several hours, the floor slanted and the Mole horizontal, the Mole was sitting nose down into the floor of the pod. The back end was sitting against the wall at an angle. The IR men headed directly towards the Mole knowing that Virgil had been pinned by it. They didn't see anyone at first, as they were on the side opposite the brothers. Gordon was the first one to slide under the Mole on the left and Jeff and Scott easily walked around the auger on the right. Gordon was closer to his brothers than the other two and was already on his knees bending over two very still bodies in torn blue uniforms. Jeff and Scott were upon them in another stride or two. There was a broken box lying across John's back. His left arm was underneath him, his right arm over his head resting on the floor. Checking the area carefully, Jeff stated that it looked safe to lift the box, which had LASER written on it, off of John. With the box removed, they saw that John was on top of Virgil. They did not move John just yet, as they did not know the extent of his injuries. And Virgil was not in immediate danger of suffocation from John being on him. In fact, Virgil could already be dead, and they knew John was still alive. They needed to be very careful with him until they knew the extent of his injuries.  
  
At that moment, an older gentleman knelt down between Jeff and Gordon. All he said was, "May I?"  
  
The Tracys looked at this person, but before any of them could ask who he was, he said, "I'm Doc Amos. I been doctoring the folks around here for ages. And let me assure you, the majority of my work is with crushing injuries such as these. Farming is a dangerous occupation."  
  
Looking past the IR men he said, "Chief, could you go get a backboard?"  
  
Walt yelled, "Sure thing, Doc" as he turned and ran out the pod door. Before he was out of earshot, Doc yelled "and the compression suit, too!"  
  
With the skill befitting someone who has worked on patients like this all his life, Old Doc Amos, as most of the townsfolk called him, worked his hands all over the limp body of John. He started with the back of his head, gently tracing his neck, and probing on down his spine. He stopped halfway down the spine to check something to the right of it, then he continued on to his pelvis and legs. He felt underneath him as much as he could without moving him. The Tracys just sat and let him do his work.  
  
He looked up at Jeff and said, "He has a series of broken ribs in the back here, a straight line down, about 4 inches to the right of his spine. Can you see it?" They all nodded, "yes". "It was probably caused by this box", he nodded towards the smashed LASER box off to the side. "His left humorous is also broken here," pointing to his left arm, "just below the shoulder. He seems to have had enough sense to mobilize it in his . whatever you call this thing." He said as he fingered the sash. "So I am guessing it happened during the initial crash. I think it is safe to roll him over, we will just wait for Walt to come back with the stretcher." Just at that moment, they could hear the crunching of tires outside as a vehicle pulled up and came to a stop. Walt hopped up at the pod entrance carrying a stiff board with strategically placed holes around the parameter. He also carried with him a large old fashion doctor's black bag.  
  
"Thanks, Walt", said the Doc. "C'mon over here and help me roll this young man onto this backboard and strap him in." As Walt stepped over to help the Doc, Jeff said, "We are perfectly able to assist you, Doctor." The Doc looked at Jeff and said, "I am most convinced that you gentlemen are highly trained and fully capable of helping me. But these two young men are obvious a part of your very tight knit group. Almost like family, am I right?" Jeff nodded. "As a doctor I would not work on my own family members. And since the Chief right here," nodding to Walt, "has worked with me many, many a times doing just this I feel it would be better if you would allow us to work on these two fine young men. I would not hesitate to ask for your help if I should need it." Although hesitant, Jeff agreed.  
  
  
  
Scott's watch com sounded an incoming call. Jeff turned around to look at his son who was standing directly behind him. Scott answered, "Go ahead, Alan"  
  
"Scott, I have some news for you about the originating rescue call."  
  
As much as Jeff and Scott wanted that information, the task before them was much more important. Jeff shook his head. Scott told Alan, "Can it wait? We are with John and Virgil now. The Doc is working on them. John looks like he is banged up, but may survive. We don't know about Virgil yet. As soon as he assess their injuries completely I will call you right back."  
  
"Ok, Scott, I will be waiting for your call." Alan answered solemnly.  
  
Walt and Doc placed the stiff board right next to John carefully positioning it so that when they rolled him over, he would be properly centered on it. Walt was by John's legs, and Doc moved up to his head and shoulders. "Ona count of three. 1. 2. 3" John was smoothly and gently rolled onto the backboard. Walt then opened up Doc's black bag and pulled out straps, gauze and a neck brace. Handing Doc the neck brace, Walt proceeded to strap John's legs to the board. Doc carefully strapped John's neck then used the gauze to secure his head and neck to the board. Two more straps, one over the pelvis and one across the chest with arms inside, and John was secured and ready for transport. Doc, quickly checked for a pulse on Virgil, looked up at Jeff and nodded. He was still alive.  
  
Nodding towards John, Doc said, "Ok. This young man is ready." He then looked up at the mole and down at the more seriously injured young man pinned beneath it. "I have a dilemma here. Do we transport the one that is ready now, or wait until we get the other one out. This one" pointing to John, "really could use attention now. But if we get this other young fella out while the ambulance is still on route waiting that extra time could be his death sentence."  
  
"Don't worry about that, we have the fastest ambulance service around", stated Scott. "We might even beat the ambulance to the hospital using Thunderbird 1." Doc looked up to the strikingly handsome young man and raise one eyebrow Mr. Spock-style. "Really? This I wanna see!"  
  
So looking to Jeff, Doc said, "so it is ok with you to send this young man in our only ambulance to the hospital?" Jeff answered without hesitation, "yes, go ahead.".  
  
"ok, give me a minute to check over this other one here, so that I can take out of the ambulance anything I might need." Doc stated.  
  
The same way that John had previously checked Virgil, Doc laid flat on his stomach and reached under the chassis. He spent a few minutes checking Virgil out. He straightened up a bit and pulled his stethoscope out of his pocket, placed it in his ears, slid back down onto his stomach and pushed his face as far under the chassis as he could so that the stethoscope could reach the patient. What seemed to be an eternity to Jeff, Doc finally got up and looked over to the other side of the chassis. He checked the distance under the chassis from the edge to where Virgil would be and nixed that idea. He instead went to Virgil's head, laid down and pushed his stethoscope down Virgil's other side, going under his outstretched arm. Again what seemed an eternity, the Doc got up and turned to Walt.  
  
"Did you bring the compression suit?" he asked of Walt. Walt answered, "It's in the ambulance, I brought the whole ambulance up here."  
  
"Good man, ok, let's go get what we need out of the ambulance." Turning to two more men and pointing to John, Doc said, "Joe, Angus, would you pick this young man up and bring him to the ambulance? Be very careful with him, he's already had a real rough ride."  
  
"Sure thing, Doc"  
  
As Joe and Angus picked up John and carried him out the pod door, Jeff turned to Gordon. "Gordon, would you mind going with them to the hospital? We will keep you informed about Virgil." Gordon looked down at his older brother pinned under all that weight, sighed a deep sigh, and said, "ok". Brains, looking at Gordon, then chimed in, "I'll go t-t-to." Jeff looked at Brains and realized he was going to help support Gordon. "Thanks Brains".  
  
At the ambulance, Walt and Doc were rummaging around inside. Periodically Walt came out with an orange box here, a red box there, and lots of very interesting medically looking items. They were brought out and set on the pod ramp. When Doc emerged, he gave the ok for John to be loaded in. "I think we have everything we need, did you check to make sure the suit is in the box, Walt?"  
  
"Yeah, it's in there."  
  
They watched Gordon and Brains enter the back of the ambulance to be with John and sit down. Jerry got into the front with the driver. Jeff climbed inside to tell John that everything is going to be ok and say goodbye. He wasn't sure if he could hear him or not, but he still had to say it. Jeff held his good hand for a moment, let go and got out. Scott then entered also said his good-byes and good luck and exited. Gordon looked out at his dad just before they closed the door and said, "Everything will be ok". The doors closed and the ambulance took off. Jeff looked after it with trepidation in his heart.  
  
  
  
Gordon was apprehensive about the ride. There were no roads out here and the ride was bumpy. He was watching John bouncing around the cot. The ambulance driver was coaxing as much speed as he could without jarring the bones of all his passengers, especially the injured one. He looked at Brains who mirrored the same thought.  
  
Suddenly there was a thud and a lurch and the ride smoothed out tremendously. The driver called back "we're on paved roads now, so we can really boogey to the hospital. Is our patient ok back there?"  
  
Brains took a look at John, felt his pulse and answered, "He's d-d-doing fine."  
  
Although the road was only a two-lane road, it was smooth and void of traffic. The ambulance screamed at about 90 MPH. Within ½ hour, they were pulling up in front of a fairly large and modern looking hospital.  
  
John was pulled from the ambulance and wheeled into the emergency room. Jerry motioned them to stay with John and that he would take care of the paperwork for now. The emergency crew started to cut away the uniform and they seemed oblivious to the fact that he was an International Rescue person. They were concentrating at the task at hand. A sphygmomanometer was placed on his right arm, heart monitor probes were placed on his chest, an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose and a pulsox monitor placed on his finger. Gordon and Brains just stood aside as they worked on John. An intern came over to them and asked them for the injury history, what they knew about the accident. Gordon gave him the quick and dirty version indicating that one of their vehicles crashed and that his broken left arm was most probably a result of the initial crash. The broken ribs in the back that Doc had pointed out to him, occurred just before he was brought in. It was caused by a heavy object falling on him. That was all he knew about the injuries. The intern went back to the other medical personnel and gave them the update. They rolled John gently onto his side for a moment and examined his back. The doctor who looked like the head honcho ordered a CT scan of the head, neck and back near the broken ribs. He also ordered the standard blood test. He spoke to the intern who came back to Gordon and Brains. "Do you know if he has any allergies?"  
  
"He d-d-doesn't", answered Brains.  
  
"Do you know if he has ever had major surgery before?" The intern asked.  
  
Both Brains and Gordon looked at each other and for the first time in hours, each cracked a smile. "Yes, he has had major surgery, do you need a list?" Gordon said.  
  
"No, the interned answer, at least not yet. We just needed to know if he has been under general anesthesia before"  
  
Gordon and Brain chuckled to themselves as all of the Tracy boys have had multiple surgeries, thanks to the dangerous job they do. Most of the time however they were in the hospital as a Tracy, not International Rescue.  
  
One of the nurses working on John came over to them and said that they were prepping to send him up to the CT lab, then straight to surgery to pin his arm and repair the damage to his lungs and ribs. The blow on the back, which broke his ribs, gave him a pneumothorax. She said, "At this point there is nothing more you can do but wait. We have a waiting room down here in Emergency or upstairs outside of surgery."  
  
"We'll both go upstairs" Gordon answered.  
  
They watched the emergency crew wheel John into the elevator and take him up to the third floor. They took the second one up because with the gurney and several medical personnel, there was no room left on the first car.  
  
Once upstairs, they sat down to a plethora of magazines to choose from, and gallons of machine coffee. Brains asked Gordon, "Should we c-c-call your dad, y-y-yet?" He answered, "I want to, but it could be bad timing. They said they would call with any news for us. We can then tell him about John."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Walt and Doc were already back with Virgil. They were in deep discussion and looked up when Scott and Jeff came back. Doc said, "Ok, Mr. uh, Mr."  
  
"Just call me Jeff"  
  
"Ok, Jeff, this is where you get back to work. How do we go about getting this behemoth off this young feller?" ask Doc. 


	12. ReadySet

Jeff, Scott, Walt, Doc and several other men from the town, ones that worked specifically in construction, brainstormed together to figure out a way to get Virgil safely out from under the chassis. After having the discussion for about 15 minutes, Jeff said, "Ok, so let's sum up what we have so far. We can't use just leverage under the chassis because there isn't enough of the chassis to support the weight of it and the rest of the Mole, which is still stuck in the floor of Thunderbird 2. That in itself makes the Mole not very mobile. It will take too long to cut the auger, so freeing up the Mole that way is also out. The rings and clamps up there on the ceiling of the pod are not strong enough to support the weight of the Mole. Besides just lifting the Mole isn't going to lift the chassis too."  
  
Jeff continued, "So, the consensus is, that the first thing we need to do is start cutting the top off the pod so that we can use the backhoe to pull up the Mole. While some of you are working on that, we will be securing the chassis to the Mole with chains, so that when we are able to move the Mole, whatever few valuable inches it may be, the chassis goes with it. Once the chassis moves even the slightest amount, we shore it up. Doc and Scott will be standing by to slide Virgil out from underneath and get him into the compression suit immediately. Does that sound right?"  
  
Jeff looked at the crowd with nods of yes and verbal agreements. He looked at Walt and said, "Can you divvy the work up to the people who best fit the task?"  
  
Walt nodded "yes" and started barking orders. After a minute speaking with Tom, a welder, he turned to Jeff and said, "None of us have used a laser cutter, but we saw how fast it works. If this one isn't broken," pointing to the one that fell on John, "there are two that are available to use. Can someone show two of my men how to use them?"  
  
"I'll do it, Fa, . uh, Jeff", spoke Scott and he grabbed the cutter from the box that fell on John, and trotted outside to get the one Brains had used earlier. Walt grabbed Tom and another man and followed after Scott. While Scott was outside instructing the two men on the use of the laser cutters, several men were cutting lengths of heavy-duty chain from the spool that Gordon brought along from the hardware store. Several men had already gone to the top of the pod, via cherry picker, and started with the acetylene torches. The backhoe was all set and ready to go with chains and hooks from its cement block duty earlier. Jeff, who was kneeling next to Virgil speaking softly to him, thought he had better give Gordon a call and see how John is and to update him at this end.  
  
Gordon's watch com started beeping just after he told Brains that he was going to wait to call his dad. He switched on his com to see his dad's face. With no one else around, he felt safe to call his father 'Dad'. "Hi Dad, I was just thinking of calling you."  
  
"Hi, Gordon. What's the word on John?" his father said, getting straight to the point.  
  
Gordon replied, "They just took him in for some tests, I believe they said a CT scan. Then from there he goes straight into surgery to fix his collapsed lung, pin his arm and do something with his broken ribs. I don't know, can they pin ribs? This hospital looks to be a pretty good one. It's no backwards clinic, that's for sure. The equipment here is the latest technology from what I could see. I think John is in good hands. What's happening on your end?"  
  
"Thanks, son" said Jeff. "I am right next to Virgil now. We have concluded that we need to lift the Mole using the backhoe. We have men cutting a large hole in the top of the pod right now. There are several other people who are securing the chassis to the Mole, so that when we do lift the Mole, the chassis will move with it. As soon as it is lifted, we will slide Virgil out and get him to the hospital."  
  
"Father" added Gordon, "If I am not mistaken, in locker number 10 or 12 of that pod, we have several heavy duty blocks just for this sort of thing. Maybe you can use them to place under the chassis when you lift it. Securing it so that you have a safety margin to get Virgil out."  
  
Jeff replied, "Good thinking Gordon, I will send Scott over there, right away. By the way, how are you and Brains holding up?"  
  
"I'm doing ok. I will be better once I know about Virgil. Brains is over on the other sofa pretending to read a magazine." Answered Gordon.  
  
"How do you know he is pretending?" inquired Jeff.  
  
A smirk slowly covered Gordon's face, "It's upside down."  
  
Jeff smiled at that, "I will call you when we have more to report. Jeff out"  
  
"Scott", called Jeff, when he got off the com with Gordon. "Gordon said that he thinks this pod has several support blocks in either locker 10 or 12, go take a look. If so, they would be perfect for supporting the chassis while we get Virgil out."  
  
"FAB" replied Scott and he vanished towards the back of the pod.  
  
While several of the men from town were busy chaining the chassis to the Mole, and several others were working on the top of the pod, Jeff took the opportunity to talk to his son. He remembered hearing that the worst nightmare a parent could go through in life was to have a child of theirs die. He never really gave it that much thought until now. He had always worried when his sons were out on a rescue, but it never really sank in that he could actually lose one. His heart was just aching at the sight of his son. He was chatting to him, but wasn't saying anything of importance, just words of encouragement and hope.  
  
Virgil turned his head to look up at his father.  
  
  
  
Jeff's heart skipped a beat. Virgil focused his one bloodshot eye; the other being swollen shut, on his father. A barely audible word croaked from his lips, "Father". Jeff was beyond worrying about secrecy anymore. He held his son's hand tightly. "Virgil, I'm here." Jeff said supportively.  
  
"My face hurts."  
  
Jeff trying to keep focus away from his situation said, "You're going to end up with quite the shiner. But don't worry, Grandma has foundation cover-up that will hide it but good."  
  
Virgil turned his head away looking around at his surroundings. Fear was slowly sinking in. "Where am I? What happened?"  
  
Jeff could hear the panic rising in Virgil's voice and he looked up and over at Doc who had never been very far from his patient. Doc Amos already had a syringe inserted inside a bottle, drawing out a clear liquid. Before Virgil could panic and start to move around, Doc was upon him giving him the tranquilizer intravenously. Jeff could feels Virgil's grip in his hand slacken. Virgil once again looked at his father, but the focus was no longer there. Then he closed his eye.  
  
"I'm sorry, Jeff," said Doc, "but if that young man moved enough to realize just how tightly pinned he was, he would have panicked big time. He would have killed himself trying to escape the clutches of this contraption. I really didn't want to tranq him because of his injuries, but I heard the fear in his voice. I had to do it."  
  
"I know, Doc. Thanks for being so quick about it" replied Jeff.  
  
Scott came back with several different size solid metal blocks on an handtruck. "There's more in the lockers, what do you think, should I bring them over here?" Jeff eyed what Scott already had with him. "I think so. It would be better to have too many over here than to have to run back there at a critical moment."  
  
"Ok" And Scott was off again. Jeff looked up at the men securing the chassis to the Mole. They were making sure the chains were tight, using a ratchet to squeeze every inch from those chains. They also hooked up a long length of chain on either side of the chassis. Jeff asked, "What are those for?"  
  
Someone who Jeff didn't know the name of, answered, "We will have just so much control of the movement when we start to lift this thing up. There will be several of us manning these chains to keep the chassis going straight up and not swaying from side to side. Once it is high enough, we will hold it steady so that it can be properly chocked. Jeff nodded to him. "These guys are good, he thought to himself."  
  
Jeff looked up when he heard a creak. In one of the corners of the main hole that the men were cutting up there, they had cut two much smaller holes and threaded a chain through it. From the looks of it down below, the cutting was almost complete. They were using the backhoe to peel the cut section by the corner up and away from the pod. Slowly daylight started to pour in. It was very late in the day. They have been at this for hours now as the crash occurred early in the morning.  
  
Walking over with the handtruck loaded with more blocks, Scott looked up at the daylight now piercing the inside of the pod. That was good, they could see better when they started to lift the Mole. He placed these blocks on the other side of the chassis from the first set he had brought over. When he finished, he walked over to where Doc was and squatted down next to him. He stayed in that position for several minutes, gathering his thoughts. Then he came out and asked, "Since you have worked with these kinds of injuries you whole life, what do you think Virgil's chances are?"  
  
Doc, who was sitting on the broken laser box, sat and meditated over his answer. After a few minutes of thought he said, "On a scale of 1-10, 10 being he walks out of here on his own power without any assistance....," he paused again, "he's a 3. I'm sorry."  
  
Scott just sat there absorbing what he just heard. He looked up when he heard one final pop and the square of pod skin was removed leaving a huge opening. "This is it, he thought to himself"  
  
He saw the bucket part of the backhoe move over the hole and when it was directly overhead he saw several faces appearing around the hole looking down. One of those men was holding the chain that was going to be lowered down to those waiting by the Mole. He yelled, "Look out below!" and started to lower the huge thick chain. When it was low enough one agile young man, who had actually climbed up onto the mole, grabbed for it. He threaded it through a convenient welded handhold on top of the Mole, then guided it down to one of his coworkers. He in turn threaded it through what he thought might have been exhaust or air vents. He handed it off to another man below him who threaded it under the Mole to another person on the other side who had an identical set of vents that he threaded the chain through. He then passed the hooked end back up to the guy on top. He threaded it through the handhold then hooked it back into the chain itself making a giant loop.  
  
Walt, who had been supervising all of the men from town, came in from outside. He was one of the faces that was on the top of the pod looking down, watching them chain the Mole. He had then caught a ride down on the cherry picker.  
  
Turning to Jeff he said, "We're ready."  
  
Jeff nodded. He gave Virgil's hand a final pat and backed out of the way. Scott and Doc were probably in the most dangerous position right next to Virgil's shoulders, as that is what they were going to grab to pull him out. Two men each were standing next to the blocks ready to place them under the chassis and a total of six men, three on each side, were manning the chains that were to keep the chassis still. Walt stood at the entrance so that he could yell to the backhoe operator and watch what was happening at the same time. He asked, "Everybody ready in here?"  
  
The answer was a unisoned, "yes".  
  
He looked outside and yelled, "You ready, Bob?" Bob stuck his hand out, thumbs up.  
  
Walt was just about to give the go ahead when a young man hopped up into the pod, said "wait a minute" as he walked past Walt and headed straight to Doc Amos.  
  
"Doc, you get over there by your bag and the suit. I will help pull this guy out." And he gently shoved the Doc out of his way. He looked over to Walt and said, "Now were ready." 


	13. The Mole surrenders

The young man turned to Scott, held out his hand and simply said, "Allen". Scott stretched out his own hand and met his in a handshake and simply said, "Scott".  
  
Allen said, "Pleased to meet you"  
  
  
  
Holding his right arm straight out, palm up, Walt yelled to Bob, "Ok Bob, let's take up the slack first." Walt slowly waved his arm up and down indicating he wanted a slow lift. With a rattling of chains, the slack slowly disappeared into a taut straight line. When Walt saw this, his immediately changed his arm position to have the palm point outward towards Bob in a STOP command.  
  
"Ok, Bob, you have taken up all the slack. Now very slowly, very carefully let's lift this sucker." said Walt. He was once again waving his arm slowly up and down. The men on either side of the chassis holding the chains, that would prevent side to side swinging, took up the slack of their charges. Allen bending over, hands on his knees and concentrating on the chassis said, "Jonny, you are going to need to hold your side. I can see the chassis is going to move away from you", he said to one of the chain holders.  
  
With a loud moan, followed by grinding, everyone could see movement in the Mole. No one was taking a breath. The men manning the blocks looked ready to run a sprint race, each with a block in front of them ready to slide into place. The men on the side that Jeff and Doc were on leaned a bit against the chain they were holding. Jeff guessed that one of them must be the Jonny, Allen had spoken to.  
  
Suddenly there was air between the chassis and the chocks that John had put into place earlier. The two 'block men' quickly launched themselves towards the chassis, pushing the smallest of the blocks under the chassis. They simultaneously shoved the blocks in the direction of the auger, jamming them under the chassis. The movement of the chassis was barely noticeable, but was happening none the less.  
  
There was more loud grinding at the back end of the Mole. It rested heavily in the dent it had made when it landed against the side of the pod during the final throws of the crash. The Mole now bitterly complained against being forced to leave it's resting-place. It was fighting tooth and nail to stay put.  
  
Everyone looked up when there was a loud "CHANK" from above as the chain repositioned itself around the backhoe bucket from the weight. But it held solidly. It wasn't going to give up a centimeter to the Mole.  
  
Another loud groan came from the auger as it was being forced to move within the confines of the hole it made in the pod floor.  
  
No one had taken a breath.  
  
With a belch worthy of any world-class beer drinker, the back end of the Mole finally gave up it's position against the wall surrendering several inches to the backhoe. The two 'chain men' again launched themselves at the chassis with larger blocks, ramming them under the chassis.  
  
Scott seeing that the timing was right, said to Allen, "NOW!"  
  
The two men lunged at Virgil, grabbing any piece of clothing on his shoulder and pulled. They were expecting him to slide instantly from under the chassis because the pod floor, although presently dirty, is a polished surface. But there was hesitation. It lasted only a fraction of a second, however and once Virgil slipped free from under the chassis, they saw the cause of the hesitation. He was stuck to the pod floor from dried blood. They saw instantly that he had an injured artery somewhere on his torso, and quickly dragged him to the compression suit. They unceremoniously plopped him onto the suit and began to zip up his legs and arms. Doc, first put a pressure bandage over the wound with the arterial damage, then continued by putting heart monitors and other medical sensing devices in strategic locations around his chest. Once the suit is inflated you cannot take any readings unless the equipment is already attached before inflation.  
  
Doc sat back on his haunches, and said, "ok, zip the rest of him up."  
  
Virgil was now fully enclosed in the compression suit with only his head, hands and feet exposed. The Doc attached a small nozzle to the suit and pressed the button on the machine it was attached to. The suit inflated to the proper pressure within seconds. Doc disconnected the nozzle then took the wires that at the one end were attached to Virgil under the suit and attached them to a red box with dials, lights and monitors. As he plugged them it, it came to life with sound and movement. The people around recognized the sound of a heartbeat. Weak and fast. There arose a collective sigh followed by clapping from all the workers from town. He was alive!  
  
Walt, who stopped Bob when he saw that the chassis had moved enough, took a deep breath. He didn't realize that he wasn't breathing through the entire episode.  
  
Behind Doc was another backboard that Scott had brought in earlier from TB1 before they lifted the Mole. Scott and Allen lifted Virgil onto the backboard and strapped him on. As the two men went to lift Virgil, they were suddenly surround by several of the other men who wanted to help move the injured man out. With eight men carrying Virgil, he was as light as a feather. As the group approached TB1, Walt approached the crowd. "ok, guys, this is where you say good-bye." They were disappointed but no one complained. They all understood. Walt took the one end from Allen and spoke softly, "You done good, kid."  
  
Jeff saw that Walt was going into TB1, but at this point in the rescue he was sure Walt had learned a lot more about International Rescue than any other person not purposely privvied to the information. Doc was also going inside, but he needed Doc with Virgil to monitor all the equipment he had attached to his son.  
  
After depositing Virgil on the first aid bed and securing him, Walt turned and left, not looking around, not asking questions, he just left. Jeff was still outside when Walt appeared. Walt shook his hand and said, "I will meet you at the hospital. Don't worry about here. I will clear everyone out and assign one of my men to stand guard over your Thunderbird here." Walt saw the puzzlement in Jeff's eyes. "I not only own the grain store, but I'm also the Chief of Police." Recognition entered Jeff's face, "thus the reference to 'Chief' when Doc asked you to get the backboard." Walt just winked. "Now get that young man outa here!!"  
  
Jeff climbed aboard TB1. Scott had already gone through his pre-flight startup and was ready to take off. He stated over the loudspeaker, "Please clear the area." Then over the intercom to the sickbay, "Doc, strap in".  
  
With a roar, TB1 was off. Scott radioed the hospital asking for the parking lot to be cleared. What he heard back surprised him. "Would using our helipad work for you?" came the response from the hospital. Hesitant for a moment, not thinking that a hospital way out here would even have a heliport, he answered "yes, that would work just fine." The hosptial volunteered more information, "We will have a gurney waiting for you with several of our emergency room team members. Can you give us any information about the patient now?"  
  
Scott changed to internal communications to the sick bay. "Doc, I have the hospital on the line, can you update them on Virgil's condition? Just push the button labeled OUTCOM2." Doc looked up at the intercom and saw the button. Before he pushed it, he said, "Ok Scott, I got it." He pushed the button and said, "This is Doc Amos".  
  
"Oh hi Doc, this is Emily, who y'all bringing in?"  
  
"Hi Em" replied Doc. "I got a real bad one here. He was crushed under heavy machinery. I have him in the suit. We know he has a bleeder in the lower left quadrant of his abdomen, I put a pressure bandage on him, but had him in the suit before we did any more examination. His BP is high obviously because he has the suit on, thankfully he still has a BP. Heartrate is rapid and shallow. Let me see..." Doc looked at the monitor, "his heartrate is 172 and thready. His breathing is rapid and wet sounding, and since I know he already has broken ribs my bet is that he has a pneumothorax. I suspect a broken pelvis just by the nature of the way he was pinned. He also looks to have a broken cheekbone, so we will need a plastic surgeon on hand to take a look at his face. Hey is Dr. Benson around today? He is the best vascular man I know and would probably be the best bet to finding and fixing the bleeder he has in his abdomen".  
  
"Doc, you are so in luck today, Bill Benson is here already. He worked on another young man who had a broken left arm. His brachial artery was damaged, so he had to go in and repair it. Hey and get this Amos, he was from International Rescue! Do you believe it, we got one of their operatives in here! Wonder what they were doing around here?" Emily said excitedly.  
  
Doc said, "Well, hold onto your corset Em, you're getting another one. And, it's not me that's lucky today, it's this young fella."  
  
"Holy Moly!" Doc said. Emily answered with a concerned, "What?!"  
  
"We are already here!" exclaimed Doc, "We should have been in flight another 20 minutes if we went by helicopter. Boy this bird is fast."  
  
"Bird? Did you say bird?, Emily asked unbelievingly. "Don't be telling me you are in one of their Thunderbirds Doc?! Are you?! WOW, I can't wait for you to tell me all about it!"  
  
Scott set the vertical thrusters on and came to a smooth landing on the helipad. And as promised, there by the door stood several people next to a gurney, which seemed to contain several piece of monitoring equipment.  
  
  
  
Walt, Allen and the rest of the townsfolk all stood back out of the way as TB1 fired her retros and blasted off. When Scott switched her to forward flight he gave it all she got. The people standing on the ground just stood in awe as the sleek silver bird whisked out of site within seconds. Walt could hear one of the guys saying, "Gee, I wonder how fast she can go?"  
  
Walt turned to Allen, "You did well in there asking Doc to move aside. You are really starting to think on your toes. How would you like to guard this Thunderbird?"  
  
Allen's eyes lit up like Christmas lights. "Really! Awesome! You know I do!"  
  
Walt continued, "Well you have been on the force, what, 3 years now? You have shown to be very trustworthy and enthusiastic in your work. I think I can trust you not to nosey around inside and sell International Rescue's secrets, right? I will alternate shifts with you. Maybe Jerry will take a few hours too. I have no idea how long this duty will last, I don't know when they will start salvage operations. Or if they plan on sending in their own men to guard it. I don't know how large their organization is."  
  
"That's ok" Allen enthusiastically answered.  
  
"Listen, I'm going to head to the hospital now, but I will be back to relieve you for dinner and let you pick up a few items for camping out here. You'll be ok?"  
  
"Allen replied, "Sure thing. Let me know how they are going at the hospital?"  
  
Walt replied, "Be back in a couple of hours." He looked up and figured that there may be about another ½ hour of daylight left. They were lucky, it would have been more difficult to rescue that trapped man using the spotlights."  
  
He looked around and the others were busy loading up the backhoe, the front- end loaders and all the other equipment that they brought out with them. A couple of guys were jerry-rigging the one truck with spare chains to be towed behind another as it hasn't been able to start since moving the cement blocks. When a cloud of dust indicated that just about everyone was gone, Walt climbed in his Jeep, waved to Allen and headed for the hospital.  
  
  
  
Allen went into the pod, checked to make sure no one was in there and left. He then went up the hill, into the tunnel that entered TB2 through the window. He used his flashlight to fan the area, making a mental note where items were and were not. He was trying to be very careful to not actually look at individual items, as he wanted Walt to be proud of him. He was not going to steal secrets but he wanted to make sure there was no one left over to sneak into this baby. He turned to leave and he saw a nice large thick metal plate on the floor. He went over to it and tried to pick it up. Gawd, this sucker was heavy. It won't fit through the hole the diggers made. But it would make such a good "door". But he could just chuck it out the huge hole in the back. With the pod gone, he could just drop it out. With a groan and a good old fashioned heave-ho, he lifted the metal plate up and pushed it along it's narrow side to the hole. All he had to do was tip it over and gravity would do the rest. And over it went!  
  
He suddenly felt ill when instead of hearing a soft thunk as it hit the sandy soil, there was a thunderous clunk of metal on metal. He carefully looked over the ragged edges of the hole and realized with horror that it went INTO the pod! Damn! He quickly exited the tunnel and headed down to the pod. He hoped that whatever damage it did was not noticed beyond all the other damage done to the pod from the crash and subsequent rescue. There was a huge dent in the floor, but nothing more. He doesn't think anyone would notice next to all the other damage inside the pod. At least he hopes no one will notice! He went over to where Scott left the handtruck and picked it up. He wrangled the metal plate onto it and headed outside down the ramp of the pod. He looked at the 10 foot or so drop and opted to just let it go. He held onto the truck, but dumped the plate. There was the soft thud he had originally anticipated. He lowered the truck off the pod ramp and then jumped down himself. He looked at the plate, then at the steep hill. At the plate, then at the steep hill. Oh well, he didn't have anything better to do than try to figure out how to get that thing up on the hill.  
  
He sat thinking for a minute then decided to take some of the extra rope that was lying around, tied it around the corners of the plate then took the free end up the hill with him. There was just enough rope to reach the top without lifting the plate. He secured himself with the rope that he used to climb the hill, dug his heels in and started to pull the plate up. It got stuck at the bottom and he almost had to climb all the way back down to unstick it when it finally gave in. Once it was at an angle, it slid up the hill more easily than he expected. One last heave and he had it on top of the hill. He dragged it over top of the tunnel leading into TB2 and plunked it on top. He then removed the ropes and buried the edges in dirt so that if anyone did try to get in, they would be using a lot of valuable time just trying to get the tunnel open. Hopefully he would catch them by then. He sat exhausted. It has been one physically exhausting day. From his vantage point he looked down at the pod. He wished he could close it. But without the remote that Scott had, he was out of luck. He would just have to park his truck right next to it and hope that he would catch anyone that tried to get inside there. He slid down the hill half on his feet, half on his butt. When he reached the bottom, he dusted himself off, got into his truck and pulled it over to the pod door. The last of the colors of sunset was disappearing. He stretched himself out on a couple of blankets in the bed of his pickup and relaxed, thinking about today's events and wondering how the two International Rescue men were doing. 


	14. In the hospital

Virgil was transferred to the gurney and rushed to the elevator that would take him to the emergency room. Doc Amos went with the ER team leaving Jeff and Scott to either take the stairs or wait for the elevator to come back up. They took the stairs.  
  
In the elevator Dr Chloe Smythe, the head of the ER physicians was going to look after Virgil herself. Not because he was International Rescue, although just by the work he does he has earned the best care, but because he was very seriously injured and that alone warranted her taking on his case. She greeted Amos then went right to the point, "Amos, what can you tell me of this young man?"  
  
Amos got right down to the facts, "Starting from the top down, probable fracture of the left zygomatic bone. Possible broken clavicle. Fractured vertebro-sternal ribs number 4 though 7 with subsequent lateral pneumothorax. Internal hemorrhaging due to either lacerated liver or spleen. Possible fractured ilium pelvis with inherited lacerated external iliac artery. The iliac artery and lacerated spleen/liver have me most worried. Once the suit comes off, we don't have much time to find and repair it before he bleeds out. I did not get to exam the lower extremities."  
  
Chloe said, " I think autotransfusing may work here. We will set it up when we get to the ER and see if he is a candidate." Then turning to a technician who just drew four different test tubes of blood she said, "Get the type and crossmatch first. Then the clotting factors. Hematology and Chemistry can receive their samples last. Make sure you mark it STAT and wait for the blood from Blood Bank. Start with 4 units if they have it and reserve all units of his type they have. Also reserve 5 units of O-. I would prefer to transfuse with his own type, but if we run out we will use O-.  
  
The elevator doors opened up and the technician bolted to the labs with her cargo of blood. The rest of the team wheeled Virgil into the nearest ER room.  
  
Scott and Jeff appeared at the ER waiting room shortly after Virgil was wheeled into one of the rooms. The ER was made of several closed rooms and an open area with about 5 curtained enclosures. They looked around expecting to see Gordon or Brains, but didn't see them. The nurse behind the counter noticed the two men looking a bit lost and also noticed Scott's uniform. She volunteered, "If you are looking for the others in your party, they are waiting in the surgical waiting room up on the third floor. Your other operative that came in earlier is already in surgery." Jeff said, "thanks". He turned to Scott and said, "I think I will wait here to see what they say about Virgil first before going up to see the others." Scott agreed. Then he looked at his watch com and signaled Gordon. "Hi Gordo, I just wanted to let you know we are downstairs. We are going to wait for word on Virgil before we come up. Any more news on John?  
  
Gordon answered, "No nothing on John, yet. Keep me updated on Virgil."  
  
They sat down in the chairs of the ER waiting room.  
  
And waited.  
  
And waited.  
  
At one point they saw a technician race into one of the rooms with a cart. Jeff had seen them before. They are called crash carts and are used when the heart is starting to fail. Unfortunately, one was needed when Gordon had his hydrofoil crash. But contrary to Hollywood theatrics, there was no booming CODE BLUE, CODE BLUE screeching out of the loud speaker. No hyperventilating nurse running around screaming that we need a doctor in room 1. Just that one person and cart going into one of the rooms. He didn't know which room Virgil was taken to, so he hoped that the crash cart wasn't for him. Scott saw his father looking towards the room that received the cart and said, "I am sure that is not Virgil's room. He'll be fine. He'll come out of this ok"  
  
About 45 minutes later, Dr. Smythe left Virgil's room and went over to the two men that she saw on the roof when her patient was brought in. "Are you here for Virgil?" She asked. Jeff and Scott both stood up. "Yes."  
  
"He is in very serious condition, but we have stabilized him. We brought his blood pressure back up and infused him with several units of blood. Luckily he is A+, a common type, and we have plenty of it on hand. Dr. Benson is our vascular specialist and is waiting for him upstairs to repair a bleeder in his abdomen. Dr. Sayak is the general surgeon on hand. She will be going in to repair the spleen and liver. He may lose his spleen and one lobe of his liver. But he can live a full life without those organs. We need to repair those emergency items first. Since we are going into his abdomen to do repairs we do not want to do a thoracotomy too. We hope to alleviate his collapsed lung by continuing to remove air from the chest cavity. Although that is a severe injury, it is not presently life threatening as the bleeding is. He will need to go back into surgery most probably tomorrow to repair the pneumothorax and broken ribs if he stabilizes overnight. At that time, the plastic surgeon will look at his face."  
  
"Do you have any questions?"  
  
Scott was first, "What is a pneumothorax and thoracotomy?"  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, pneumothorax is doctorese for collapsed lung. A thoracotomy is the type of surgery we perform to get into the chest cavity. It requires breaking the sternum and cracking open the ribs." Said Chloe. "We will need to do that to repair the lung and broken ribs."  
  
Jeff had the next question, "Why don't you fix everything while he is under anesthesia now?"  
  
She again answered, "His overall condition is very unstable. We need to get him into surgery to repair the bleeding but we have stabilized him enough to get him up to surgery. But to open the abdominal cavity as well as the chest cavity is too traumatic for his body. We want to get the bleeding stopped, get him into Recovery and fill him full of blood. His heart rate and blood pressure should even out and reached a more normal rate overnight. Depending on how fast his signs return to normal will dictate if we go back in tomorrow morning, afternoon or the next day."  
  
Dr. Smythe turned around when at that moment the room doors banged open and Virgil was wheeled to the elevators. "I have to go right now," she said. "He is headed to surgery which is on the third floor. You may want to wait up there."  
  
She turned and left.  
  
Scott and Jeff went to the elevators and entered the next car. As they exited the elevator onto the third floor, they saw Gordon and Brains right away. Jerry was also with them but off to the side.  
  
"Gordon, any word yet on John?" asked Jeff. He answered, "Not yet, what about Virgil".  
  
Jeff answered, "I spoke with the ER doctor. Virgil is in bad shape. It looks like he is going to need several operations to fix him up. He needs this first one just to stay alive. His ribs and face will be worked on in the next day or so. I don't know how many surgeries he is going to need totally though. I think it is going to be a very long night."  
  
They just sat down when a doctor entered the waiting room, "Mr. Ir? Is there a Mr. Jeff Ir here? Or a Mr. Gordon Ir?"  
  
The Tracy clan looked at each other in puzzlement, "Ir?" Then suddenly Jerry suddenly spoke up, "Jeff, that's you! I will explain later."  
  
Seeing the gray haired man that was being address, the doctor came over and asked, "Are you Jeff?".  
  
Jeff answered, "Yes, are you here about John or Virgil?"  
  
The doctor replied, "I worked on John."  
  
"And..." Jeff said anxiously.  
  
"John is going to be fine. We needed a vascular surgeon to go in and do some repair to John's brachial artery. It was damaged along with the bone. But the break was fairly clean, so we pinned the bone and Dr. Benson repaired the artery. I was able to repair his collapsed lung and the broken posterior ribs. Whatever landed on him hit him pretty hard, but again the break was very clean. The bones weren't shattered. I was able to pin each of the ribs. Depending on the type of break, we can't always do anything to broken ribs, but he was lucky, his were repairable. He should get full function in his arm and have no diminished breathing whatsoever once he has healed. He has just been moved to Recover. Once he wakes up, we will move him to a regular room. You can visit him as soon as he moves up there. Do you have any questions?"  
  
The doctor looked at the crowd, all shaking their heads no. Jeff reached out his hand and said, "Thank you Doctor."  
  
"You're welcome. If you have any questions later, you can contact me through the nurses. I'm Doctor Hood."  
  
The doctor was startled at the reaction he received when he said his name, "Is there something wrong?"  
  
"Uh, uh, no" stammered Jeff. "We just happen to know of a Hood, and just wasn't expecting to hear the name."  
  
Dr. Hood hesitantly said, "Ok., I'm sorry if my name shook you up. But again, please don't hesitate to contact me if you need to."  
  
"Thanks doctor, we will," said Jeff. When Dr Hood left, they all looked at each other, worried. Scott turned to Jerry, "Have you ever met that doctor before?"  
  
Jerry said, "Hell, yes, he's been at this hospital for years. He's worked on me, and.. Um, Walt. I think maybe Walt's wife too. Don't worry, if he worked on John, then John had the best man around. Why? Is there something wrong?"  
  
"No, I guess not, not if you vouch for him." Said Scott. "By the way, what's with this Mr. Ir? Who is Mr. Ir?  
  
Jerry chuckled. "I did the paperwork for you guys as you seemed so concerned about your buddies I wanted you to stay with them. But I didn't know your last name and figured I wasn't going to know it," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "I had to give them something so I just thought I. R. for International Rescue. Ir!" I set it up for both the guys we rescued even though Virgil wasn't here yet. This way, you needed worry about red tape."  
  
"C-c-clever, quick thinking," said Brains.  
  
At that moment, Walt walked into the waiting room. "Hey, what's the news on our two boys?"  
  
Jeff filled him in on both John and Virgil. ". and so, when John awakes, we will go visit for a while then come back here. He won't be awake for long periods of time, but I would like for him to see us at least for a moment or two. But I think we will have a very long wait with Virgil. Coffee?"  
  
Walt sat down, now looking very exhausted, "Uh, yes, thanks. Cream, no sugar"  
  
After retrieving a cup from the machine for Walt, one for himself and one for Scott, everyone had declined, Jeff sat down.  
  
About 30 minutes later, a nurse came in and said that John was waking up and would anyone like to see him. Scott looked to his dad and said, "Why don't you and Gordon go. Brains and I can go when you get back."  
  
Jeff and Gordon were led down the hall and to the left into room 328. John was there and looked asleep. His complexion was sallow. He looked like he had been through the ringer. Jeff thought he looked terrible but was thrilled that he was going to be ok.  
  
"Son?" Jeff said. "John?" John opened his eyes. He was having trouble keeping them open, a side effect of anesthesia. "Hi dad," he whispered. He closed his eyes for a moment then opened them again. "Where am I?"  
  
"You're in a hospital. Do you remember what happened?" Said Jeff.  
  
John closed his eyes again. He laid there like that so long that Jeff and Gordon thought he had fallen asleep. "Yeah, I do," he said opening his eyes. Virgil?"  
  
This time it was Gordon who answered. "He's in surgery now. You were great in what you did for him. He won't have made it this far if it weren't for you."  
  
John smiled weakly. "Ok. Let me know when he gets out. I'm going to sleep, now." And with that John was asleep. The nurse came in and said that between the anesthesia and medication, he would probably sleep the rest of the night. Jeff and Gordon left John's room to return to the others.  
  
Scott and Brains took a turn to visit John when the other two got back. They were there only a short time. John did not wake up for them. When they got back, Scott got another cup of coffee and sat down.  
  
It was going to be a long night.  
  
  
  
Gordon cracked his eyes a smidge to squint at the clock. Only two hours had passed since they wheeled Virgil into surgery.  
  
  
  
Scott crumbled the paper cup in his hand from his 5th cup of coffee and glanced up at the clock. "Hmmm," he thought to himself, "it's only been three hours."  
  
  
  
Brains took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. He had read every magazine in the room. He put his glasses on and turned to look up at the clock. Five and a half hours have passed. He was sure it was going to be a lot longer.  
  
  
  
  
  
Jeff looked at both Walt and Jerry snoring away head to head. Walt had left for a short while to relieve Allen for a couple of hours and had returned several hours later. Jeff wondered why those two were still here at... he glanced up at the clock,. the ungodly hour of 4:30 AM. They should be at home in bed.  
  
  
  
Scott's watch com beeped. Scott jumped slightly as he was drifting through that state halfway between awake and asleep. He thought to himself, "Oh God, we forgot all about Alan!" And glancing over at Jeff, his face confirmed it.  
  
"Go ahead Alan"  
  
"Hi Scott, any news?"  
  
"Virgil is still in surgery. We spoke to the ER doctor..." Scott filled him in on the details of Virgil's injuries.  
  
"by the way, you said you had news about the original call?" Scott asked.  
  
"Yeah, you're not going to believe this." Alan started excitedly. "It was a real call but the guy gave us the wrong coordinates. He got two of the numbers backwards. The collapsed mine is about 500 miles south of you." Then continuing in a more somber note, "they lost 7 miners. Miners we could have saved if we went there instead.." And he trailed off.  
  
Jeff turned on his watch and made it a three-way conversation. "Alan, we would never have been able to save those men, even if Thunderbird 2 did not crash. Not until we had the correct coordinates. Don't go blaming yourself because you couldn't tell that he gave you the wrong location. We may have fantastic rescue machines, but we are still human, and we do not have ESP, contrary to some popular belief!"  
  
Alan knew he was right. "I know. It is just so hard to hear the cries for help and not be able to do anything about it. By the time he corrected the coordinates, Thunderbird 2 was already down."  
  
Scott looked up, and towards Brains, but addressed everyone. "If the rescue call was real, what caused the crash?" 


	15. ICU

Into the waiting room stepped Dr. Sayak, who was Virgil's general surgeon. She looked exhausted. She lowered her mask but left the rest of her OR scrubs on including hat and boots. She looked at the six faces staring at her. At 5:43 AM, she didn't expect anyone around except for the people who were there for her patient. "Are you all here for Virgil?" she asked.  
  
Jeff stepped forward, "I'm Jeff, how is he?"  
  
She responded, "I'm not going to paint rosy pictures. He was very seriously hurt. He did make it through surgery ok. He took 12 units of blood, 7 were from autotransfusion, his own blood. The rest was from our Blood Bank. Originally we were not going to go after the pneumothorax but that was causing too many problems so we called in our thorasic specialist. Dr. Benson, the vascular surgeon repaired the iliac artery. I stopped the bleeding in the liver, but was unable to save his spleen. When Dr. Benson and myself were done, Dr. Horvath came in and did the thoracic surgery. He repaired the pneumothorax and the ribs. Since all of the internal work was complete except for the fractured pelvis, we decided to fix that as well to save from not having to open him back up in another day or two. That is why the surgery took so long. His face will still need a plastic surgeon, but I would recommend waiting about three days so that his body can recover from the trauma and surgery. He would still need to be put under general anesthesia for his face, but that is not life threatening. We also had to stitch up his back. He had a long but shallow laceration from his left shoulderblade diagonally across his back to his right hip. That took over 100 staples. I'm sorry but with that long of a laceration, he will have a scar in his back. The surgery will definitely leave a scar on the front as well. One of the major problems with surgery of this severe nature is that he could throw an emboli. A blood clot, if you will. That is our biggest worry at this time. Bleeding at any of the repair work is another problem we need to watch closely for. Infection is always a threat and in rare instances, where patients were under anesthesia as long as Virgil was, they don't wake up. Do you have any questions?"  
  
They all stood stunned. Gordon finally asked, "what are his chances?"  
  
Dr. Sayak responded, "I don't like to give figures, they are too general. My biggest worry is the PE, pulmonary embolism. We have him on heparin, a clot-thinning drug. But we have to be extremely careful because if he gets too much, he will bleed to death at the surgery sites. There will be no way for the blood to clot where we did the surgery. His risks are high."  
  
Scott looked at his dad. Jeff was chalk white.  
  
Dr. Sayak continued, "He is presently in recovery. We will be moving him to ICU when he shows signs of waking. Now if you don't mind, if you don't have anymore questions, I have surgery in a couple of hours." And she left.  
  
Walt and Jerry came over. "Jeff, we're sorry about the news, but keep your chin up. He has lasted this long." said Jerry. Walt added, "Yeah, he will be fine. I need to get home, but I will check back here later today to see if there is a change in his condition." Jeff looked at the two men who were most instrumental in helping get his son this far. "I don't know how to thank you two. You have been more than kind and generous." And he held his hand out to shake their hands. Jerry said, "Don't worry, you would have done the same for us!" He smiled and had that same twinkle in his eye. The two men then left.  
  
Jeff sat down with a thud. He was drained. At least Virgil was still alive. He survived the crash. He survived the rescue. He survived the surgery. He just has to survive post-op. He looked up at Scott and over to Brains and Gordon who have already sat back down. "There is nothing we can do right now for Virgil or John. But we do need to plan out what to do next." He said.  
  
Scott sat down next to his dad. Jeff continued, "Obviously Grandma and Tin- tin are waiting to come here. So we need to go back to base. I am not sure what we can do about any rescues that come in. We might be able to handle a few of them with just TB1. TB4 could handle any underwater problems close enough to the island. We also can handle the rare space rescue with TB3. But major rescues are out for now. We have got to figure out how to salvage TB2 and when to start. I have to consider damage control regarding security as well. I am sure several of the people have heard Brains calling me Mr. Tracy."  
  
"I-I-I'm sorry, M-M-Mr. Tracy, I-I-I wasn't paying attention." A red faced Brains answered. "That's ok Brains, at the time I heard it I didn't care if International Rescue's security was breached or not. I am not sure if I even want to continue International Rescue. Virgil is fighting for his life because of it." Scott was about to protest, but Jeff held up his hand. "We will discuss that later. I am going to stay here today. Brains, I would like for you to do some research as to what happened to TB2. You can do it here or at base. Scott, go get Grandma and Tin-tin. It's ok to keep using TB1 as everyone here knows we are International Rescue. But just in case we have lucked out so far, keep the surname quiet. They are addressing us here as Ir. And that is fine with me. Gordon, I'm sorry, but I would like you to man the base for now. For the time being you and Scott can take turns coming here. Brains, would you also put some thought into how to get TB2 out of here? Scott while flying back, please give Alan an update. Ok, boys, that's the plan."  
  
Scott stood there with his mouth open, wanting to protest and stay. But he knew someone had to get his grandmother. "C'mon Gordon, let's go. Are you staying or coming Brains?"  
  
Brains was thoughtful for a moment. "I will come with you Scott. I want to freshen up, and get my computer. I will come back later."  
  
The three men headed towards the elevator to take up to the helipad. Just before the doors closed, Scott said to Jeff, "He'll be ok dad. Bye."  
  
Jeff sat alone in the waiting room for a few moments. When he got up, he went to the nurse's station and told her that he can be found in room 328. She smiled and said, "As soon as I hear anything at all, I will come get you."  
  
Walt got home and freshened up. It was too early to wake his wife, but too late to go to bed. He caught a few zzz's last night in the waiting room. He felt so bad for the members of International Rescue. They have put their lives on the line to save hundreds, maybe even thousands of lives. Then to have something happen to one of them like this. He supposed that it should be expected in their line of work, but it seems so unfair. He really felt honored to have been able to help them. He cooked up some breakfast, packaged the food in plastic containers and took it with him to the crash site. The sun was just peeking over the horizon when he left his home but was glaring him in his face when he arrived. Allen got up when he heard Walt's jeep. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and swished his mouth with a swig of water. The night was very nice and he ended up sleeping in the bed of his truck with just a couple of extra blankets.  
  
"Hi Chief," greeted Allen. "Watcha got there?"  
  
"I thought you would like some company and breakfast. I made my own version of an egg McMuffin, a large thermos of coffee, sausage and sticky buns. No I didn't bake them. I picked them up from Mom's Bakery on the way out of town. They're still warm."  
  
Allen's eyes lit up, "Sounds great. Did you say company too? You staying to eat with me?" Walt nodded yes. "Was it quiet last night?"  
  
Allen said, "Yeah. Nothing much except a couple of critters nosying around. After you left I went into the pod and looked for anyone who might have been hiding. Then I went into the big craft itself. Man, she is something, but I promise I didn't take note of any secrets. But I did take a big ol' heavy plate and placed it over the tunnel opening. People can still move it but hopefully it will take so much time, that I would have spotted them before they got in. I wanted to close the door to the pod, but don't know how to. BOY, this is good!" as he sunk his teeth into the breakfast sandwich. Walt admired his young officer. He was going to be a good one.  
  
"Hey," Allen added, "How's the fella we pulled out yesterday?"  
  
Walt gave him the rundown on Virgil.  
  
Looking thoughtful Allen said, "I sure hope he makes it. His group does real good work. Did you say you were there all night? Why don't you go home and take a nap or something. I slept well last night, I can handle more here."  
  
Walt said, "Thanks Allen, but why don't you go home and freshen up a bit and find stuff to bring back with you to keep you occupied. This is going to get boring. I want to hit the hospital this afternoon to see how Virgil is doing. I also want to find out what Jeff plans to do with this thing here. And don't worry about the pod. If I can get the remote to close it I will. But it's no big deal."  
  
"Ok, Chief, catcha later." Allen left. Walt went into the pod to check it out. It looked the same as it did yesterday. He didn't notice the new dent in the floor. He then climbed up to the tunnel and found it sealed just like Allen had said. He looked at that thick plate of steel and wondered how that skinny kid got it up there. "He's resourceful" he thought to himself.  
  
  
  
Jeff was sitting with John when the nurse came in. "Mr. Ir, Virgil is stirring, so he is being moved up to ICU. That is on the 4th floor. When you come out of the elevator, make a left. That entire wing is ICU. Just go to the nurses station and tell them that he was just brought up."  
  
Jeff thanked the nurse and left for the elevators. In the short amount of time that he was riding up, he was thinking of what to give the hospital for taking such good care of his boys. He exited the car and turned left. This floor was noisier than downstairs. Lots of beeping from the monitors. He went to the nurse's station and asked if Virgil was brought up yet. The nurse said, "Yes, but we have not set him up in his room yet. Give us a few more minutes. Our waiting room is right over there." She said as she pointed to the other side of the aisle. Jeff went and sat down. It was going to be a busy couple of days running between the floors.  
  
After about 15 minutes the nurse came for Jeff. She led the way, "He's in room 4. Don't let all the tubes and wires scare you. It will bother you more than it does him. If you need anything, you can come ask. If it is an emergency just push the nurse's call button over here." And she showed him the callbox.  
  
"Thank you", said Jeff and he sat down next to Virgil. He looked horrific. He had tubes around his face. He had tubes coming out of his arms. He had wires and tubes coming out of his body. His face was terribly swollen and purple. The hand that Jeff was holding was also swollen. He looked over Virgil's entire body and came to the conclusion that he was indeed swollen all over. He was there but a few minutes when someone in a white coat walked in. She gave a greeting and proceeded to draw blood from one of his arms and left. During the first hour there, Virgil had more medical visitors than Jeff thought existed in the entire hospital. Technicians came in and stuck him with needles. Nurses came in to check stats. Doctors came in to poke and prod him and check his chart. By the second hour, Jeff was getting used to the traffic going through his son's room. He was beginning to know the staff by name. Within the next hour Scott came in with Grandma and Tin-tin. The room was tiny, so Jeff asked Scott and Tin- tin to wait just outside for a few minutes while his mother visited with his son. Jeff held onto his mother as she wept. He kept telling her that he was young and strong, and that he will make it through this. Jeff just held his mother tight and kept repeating that over and over in a soothing voice. It also helped him believe that his son was going to be ok. After several minutes, the two left to visit John and Scott and Tin-tin visited with Virgil. Tin-tin like his grandmother was in tears most of the time. Scott had to sooth her just as Jeff soothed his mother.  
  
When Jeff and his mother entered John's room, he was just waking up. He was still suffering from the anesthesia and seemed a little out of it. "Hi son, how are you feeling?" Jeff asked. Grandma joined in before John could answer, "John, my baby, how are you doing?" and she put her hand on his good arm. He responded, "Hi dad, hi grandma. I'm a little bit woozy. But I'm not in a lot of pain." He looked around a little, and you could see his brain start to sharpen a bit. "Last thing I remember was looking up at the LASER box just as it was breaking loose." Jeff filled John in with the details. "..if you hadn't covered your brother, he would have probably been hit in the head with that box. You saved his life. In fact just with all you did in there, you saved his life."  
  
Just then Scott and Tin-tin walked in. "Hey, John, you're awake. That's great. I'm glad one of you two are still with us." Said Scott.  
  
John asked, "When can I see Virgil?" His dad replied, "As soon as you can walk without falling over."  
  
"Ok" he said, as his eyes started to get heavy. "Tomorrow, I will probably be up to it. Right now I think I will go back to sl..." He never finished his sentence. He was once again asleep.  
  
Later that afternoon, after Scott took the two women home, Walt showed up. "Hi, Jeff, I just came to see how those young men of yours are doing?"  
  
"Thanks for coming, Walt, you really don't have to. John was awake for a while and looking pretty good. Virgil is holding his own. But just the sight of him scares me." Jeff confessed. Walt patted Jeff on the shoulder. "It'll be ok. The missus wants you to spend the night at our house. And no use saying no, because I won't let you. He will not wake up tonight and you need to sleep so that you can be awake when he does wake up." Jeff started to protest, but Walt butted back in, "I will arrest you for loitering if you resist. I think our house is a little more comfortable than the jailhouse. I can probably think of a couple more charges that I can use against you until you get a lawyer. Besides, my wife would kill me if I came back empty handed." Jeff took a deep sigh. "Ok, I will ask Gordon to bring me a fresh change of clothes. By the way, have I said thank you yet?" Walt looked at Jeff long and hard, "You have thanked me probably a thousand times over already. I have to go now, I will be by to pick you up at 11:00. That will give you until late to stay with him. S'long."  
  
Gordon showed up a few hours later with a change of clothes and toiletries for his dad. He was by himself. He said Brains was locked in his lab. "I think he may come back with Scott later."  
  
Gordon sat next to his dad and just looked at his older brother. He remembers his near-fatal accident. Virgil had been there the most for him. Once he gets back home, he is going to bow to his every wish and whim. He will finally get his chance to give back to Virgil what Virgil gave to him years ago. He said softly, "Virgil, payback's a bitch." Jeff looked at Gordon, but Gordon just gave him a wink and a smile. Gordon left to visit with John for a while. When he came back, he had a smile on his face. John was awake for most of the time. Gordon felt good to see at least one of his brothers doing better. Around dinnertime, Gordon left so that Scott could come back with Brains. The women will come back again tomorrow. One of the nurses came in and asked Jeff if he would like something to eat. She could have the kitchen bring a little something up. But Jeff declined. He really wasn't hungry. That entire day, there was absolutely no change in Virgil. Was that a good sign or a bad sign he wondered.  
  
Later Scott walked in the door with Brains. He also had some food. He knew Jeff would not go out to eat, so he had to bring it to him. Brains came in and gave his greetings then looked at Virgil. He looked like he was about to cry. Instead he turned back to Jeff and said, "I-I-I think getting Thunderbird 2 out of h-h-here should be f-f-fairly easy. You s-s- still have c-c-connections, right? She should f-f-fit inside one of the army t-t-transport planes. It w-w-will be a t-t-tight fit but with her w-w- wings broken, she should s-s-still fit. I think our r-r-runway is long enough for it to l-l-land. Scott, you c-c-can fly one of them, c-c-can't you?" He said looking at Scott. Scott stood there thinking for a minute. "Yeah, I think that will work. We can check to see if the plane fits on our runway first, pick up some of our more powerful piece of equipment to pull TB2 out of the side of the hill. The area just to the north is flat enough that we don't even need an airport. What do you think, dad?"  
  
Jeff was thinking about that, mulling it over in his mind. "Yeah, and I know just the guy to call, too."  
  
Brains also said, "I-I-I think I-I-I know what happened t-t-to Thunderbird 2." 


	16. Little Grand Canyon

Virgil stirred.  
  
All eyes, which had been looking towards Brains, now turned to Virgil. Jeff put his hand on Virgil's arm and said softly, "Virgil? son?"  
  
No answer.  
  
With a sigh, Jeff turned back to Brains. "What happened to Thunderbird 2?"  
  
"W-W-Well, when Scott t-t-took us home earlier I-I-I asked him to s-s-slow d-d-down over the c-c-crash site so that I could t-t-take some r-r-readings of the crater and s-s-surrounding area. When I g-g-got home I f-f-fed that information into m-m-my computer then accessed the g-g-geological information of that area."  
  
Brains continued, "I r-r-ran the t-t-test several t-t-times and asked the c- c-computer to give me p-p-percentage results with what I f-f-found. You are n-n-not going to b-b-believe this."  
  
Scott yelled impatiently, "Brains, what happened?!"  
  
  
  
"It s-s-seems that there are p-p-pockets of natural g-g-gas all around the area and there w-w-was one particularly large p-p-pocket sitting just below the s-s-surface at the precise location that V-V-Virgil had TB2's l-l- landing thrusters on f-f-full. Because the g-g-gas was so close to the s-s- surface, and there were some g-g-gas escaping. Thunderbird 2's jet set off the explosion."  
  
Scott and Jeff just stood there; mouths open, in shock. "Are you sure Brains?" Scott asked.  
  
"W-W-Well, Scott. That is the b-b-best scenario I have. The c-c- computer has it at 93% as the c-c-cause of explosion. Yes it p-p-probably could be sabotage I s-s-suppose, or something else. B-B-But I do think th- th-that is r-r-really what h-h-happened. Virgil b-b-blew himself up."  
  
Jeff and Scott stood there in stunned silence.  
  
"I heard that." Croaked Virgil.  
  
Jeff looked at Virgil, surprised, then turned to Scott, "Scott, go get the nurse, she wanted to know when Virgil woke up."  
  
"Ok." Scott then turned and left.  
  
Jeff turned to Virgil. His face was still swollen, but was turning more colorful. His left eye was still closed. But he looked at his dad with his right eye. Jeff put his hand on his son's arm.  
  
"I destroyed Thunderbird 2?" Virgil barely whispered the words, but was visibly upset.  
  
"Virgil," Jeff said in a stern voice. "Thunderbird 2 can be rebuilt. We can take advantage of this tragedy and change the original design flaws. I want you to concentrate on you getting better. I want you well and back home. I don't give a damn about a broken cargo ship. You are not to blame for the explosion! Do you hear me!"  
  
Virgil just looked at him and swallowed hard. The nurse walked in then. "Would you all please wait outside for a few minutes while I examine him? Thanks."  
  
The three men hesitantly left the room. They all wanted to talk to Virgil.  
  
The nurse went to Virgil's side. "Hi, Virgil, my name is Jeanine. I'm your RN for today. Other than feeling like you were run over by a three-ton steamroller, how do you feel? Can you give me specifics?"  
  
Virgil looked up at her, but his first attempt to speak failed. She picked up a cup that was next to his bed. It contained ice. She took a spoon and picked out a small piece and brought it to his lips. When he took it, she said, "Don't chew it, let it melt in your mouth. It will help take away the dryness."  
  
When he tried to speak again, there was some noise that escaped his lips. In a soft whisper he said, "I hurt all over, especially my face."  
  
She asked, "What do you know of your injuries?" He answered, "Nothing."  
  
She asked, "Do you know what happened to you?" He hesitated for a moment, "I was in a crash."  
  
"Your memory is fine", she said, then she went onto explained what happened to him and what his injuries were then asked, " Do you have any pain that may not be explained by any of your injuries?"  
  
Virgil thought for a moment, "Can't tell."  
  
She said, "Ok, we'll keep an eye on you. Do you have any questions?"  
  
Virgil nodded, "Why do I have to wait for surgery on my face?"  
  
Jeanine replied, "Your body needs to rest before you undergo more surgery and you were in surgery way too long repairing the rest of you to have your face worked on last night. But the plastic surgeon we have is excellent. You will be just as handsome as you always were."  
  
Virgil asked, "How do you know I was handsome?"  
  
She smiled, she could see he was troubled, which is only natural for people with facial trauma. "Only the left side is swollen, your right side looks just fine." She patted him on the arm then said, "Your doctor will be here tomorrow to talk to you. You can ask him any questions you'd like. Now, just relax, I do have to check you over and make sure all the wires, tubes and pipes sticking out all over your body are still working."  
  
He closed his eyes then slept.  
  
Jeff and the others were disappointed that they were unable to talk to Virgil.  
  
Walt came by at 11:00 PM as promised and Scott and Brains bid their good- byes. They 'parked' TB1 in the field a little ways from the hospital so has not to hog the heliport in case there was an emergency helicopter that needed to land there. Jeff left with Walt in his jeep.  
  
Jeff awoke from a deep sleep. He didn't realize how exhausted he had gotten. The stress of the past two days had taken its toll. It was just after 10:00 AM. He had wanted to get up early and get back to the hospital but Walt didn't wake him up. He couldn't be mad at Walt, though. He would have done the same thing to any one else if the situation was reversed. Walt's wife, Anita, had breakfast ready for Jeff so that he didn't have to wait. She told him that Walt was at the store and she would call him back home to take Jeff back to the hospital. He should eat while Walt was enroute.  
  
When Jeff was back at the hospital, he was once again asked to remain outside Virgil's room. Several doctors were working on Virgil, checking his chart, examining his surgical sites, and whatever else doctor's do. The nurse, seeing Jeff's worried look, assured him that nothing has happened, this is the normal routine with ICU patients. With that Jeff went downstairs to visit John. When he got into his room, John wasn't in bed. Jeff looked around worried. Was he so concerned about Virgil that he didn't notice how bad John really was? He didn't know what tests John would be undergoing, or his prognosis or anything. He looked around the room repeatedly, when John opened the bathroom door. He was still attached to an I.V. so he was pushing his I.V.pole next to him as he came out. "Oh, hi, dad" he said cheerily, "uh, what's wrong, you look white as a ghost."  
  
Jeff replied, "Oh, uh, just tired I guess." Hiding the fact that he just got so worried and he failed to think of the bathroom as a logical place for John to be. "John you look terrific, how do you feel?"  
  
"Well, I seem to have trouble catching my breath, and the arm is achy, but other than that, I feel fine. I just run out of steam easily." And with that he laid back down on the bed. "Can I visit Virgil this afternoon? How is he?"  
  
Jeff said, "He woke up briefly last night, but I didn't get to talk to him much. Scott and Brains didn't get to talk to him at all. The nurse needed to speak with him. But I am just glad that he woke up."  
  
Jeff looked down for a moment, looking uncomfortable, but before John ask anything, he said, "I'm sorry I'm not spending as much time with you." John butted in before Jeff could say anymore, "Dad, I know that you have two injured sons on two different floors. One is in very bad shape. Don't worry. I'm doing fine. I actually would prefer to be at Virgil's side instead of my own room right now, too. Don't apologize for being worried. I wasn't the one being crushed under the Mole for the better part of a day. Please, don't apologize."  
  
Jeff was still feeling guilty about not spending more time with John when John's doctor came in. "How are we feeling today, young man?"  
  
The doctor came over, listened to his heart, lungs, checked his back then his arm and said, "You seem to be doing excellently. I am thinking you can probably go home tomorrow evening if you continue to improve." John seemed genuinely pleased.  
  
Jeff asked, "Will there be any permanent problems associated with his injuries?"  
  
The doctor answered, "No, not unless he re-damages what we fixed because he didn't remain quiet," and he shot a quick look at John, "or he develops complications in the next several days, which I am not anticipating."  
  
"Thanks, doc" said Jeff as the doctor left. Turning to John he said, "I will come get you later this afternoon for a Virgil visit if you are up to it."  
  
"Yeah, father, that would be terrific. Looking forward to it." He said with a smile.  
  
  
  
  
  
The next week flew by. Jeff stayed with Walt a couple of nights more before going back to the island. The rest of the Tracy clan kept Thunderbird 1 busy ferrying them back and forth at different times to visit Virgil. He had his facial surgery, and the doctor who performed it was thrilled with the results. He told the men from International Rescue that he was able to do the repairs microscopically, thus minimizing the scarring, which will be hidden at the hairline anyway. By week's end, Virgil was moved to room 328 since it had been recently vacated.  
  
John visited Virgil several days later and spent the day there just the two of them. That was the day that Thunderbird 2 was being taken home. John was not fit enough to help with the salvage operation. Besides, Jeff still wanted someone with Virgil, who was now awake during most the day, and sitting up a little. During this visit Virgil finally decided to ask John the question everyone else was avoiding answering.  
  
"How bad is Thunderbird 2, John. Be honest, please." Pleaded Virgil. John, who had his left arm in a sling, sat next to Virgil. He thought for a moment, then said, "If you let onto dad, that I told you anything, I won't save you the next time this happens." He paused, then continued, "I don't remember what the outside looks like. But she was on her side. All the windows were broken and dirt had poured through in the cockpit. I think her whole nose was embedded.." John continued on for over an hour describing the ordeal that he went through, the problems he had climbing over debris, how and where he found Virgil, etc. Virgil listened intently, incredible sadness in his eyes. As John was describing what he went through, Virgil kept thinking that he was the one responsible for putting John through that nightmare. "... that was the wildest ride you ever put me on Virgil. I think I will enjoy the peace and quiet of Thunderbird 5 for a while." John finished up with a glint to his eye at the joke. He looked over at Virgil and said, "Hey, don't worry about TB2, she will be back at base and started under repair by tomorrow." Virgil responded, "I wasn't thinking of what I did to her, I was thinking of what I did to you." John sat stunned, he never thought of it that way. "What do you mean, me? We were going on a rescue. It was Mother Nature who told us not to land there. You didn't do anything to me. Listen Virgil, you had better get that thought, that you caused this, out of your head right now. It will just eat you up inside. There was no way you could have known there were gas pockets under us. Beside, there is no way I would have been able to sit up in TB5 during a rescue like that. I am much happier to have been there, even if I was the one of the ones being rescued. Poor Alan must have been going nuts." Although he knew Virgil heard him, he also knew that Virgil was going to have to come to the right conclusion by himself.  
  
  
  
At the crash site, several townsfolk came back to help with the loading. Brains was right, she did fit inside that big cargo carrier, but barely. There was plenty of metal scraping against metal as she was being pulled in. With the help of so many people, TB2 was loaded, transported, unloaded back home (with just the Tracys) and the carrier returned to Jeff's buddy all within one day. Jeff was hoping to have some repairs done to TB2 before Virgil came home. The last thing he wanted was for Virgil to have a heart attack at the sight of his beloved ship that he now feels he destroyed. Jeff had Brains working almost non-stop on redesigning TB2. He didn't want major changes, more like enhancements that would never have occurred if TB2 wasn't so badly damaged. He had the rest of the boys working hard to fix the pieces that were not going to be enhanced, except John who spent a lot of time with Virgil. As soon as Brains would be finished with the plans for one upgrade the boys would start in on it. The first upgrade that went into TB2 was a landing detector. It would scan the ground beneath TB2 to check for such things as gas pockets, cracks, underground rivers or caves, and any other flaw in the earth's crust that would cause a problem with Virgil landing such a large heavy craft. The new and improved Thunderbird 2 was going to be unstoppable.  
  
  
  
  
  
**************************************************************************** ************  
  
2 months later  
  
  
  
  
  
Jerry and Walt were sitting in their chairs in front of Jerry's store admiring the beautiful day and watching the world go by. "Say, Walt, do you remember the last name of those International Rescue folks? Wasn't it Racy?" asked Jerry.  
  
"Nah, I think it was Spacey as in the Hollywood actor, Kevin. I think there is some resemblance, maybe they are related, you think?" Replied Walt.  
  
"Nope, I don't think it was Spacey, I woulda remembered that, maybe it was Stacy."  
  
The two men looked at each other and winked. They had quietly gone around town periodically testing the waters, so to speak, to see if anyone remembered Jeff's last name. Nobody had paid attention. No one could tell either of the two men what Jeff's last name was or even the first names of the rescued men. They were so wrapped up in the rescue itself. One guy, George, an amateur photographer and video nut recorded the whole rescue. He came up to Walt several days after the rescue and presented the video to Walt. He said that he had no plans of selling it or making money from it. He wanted to give it to International Rescue as a momento of what Hogs Hollow did for them. He asked Walt that if he ever saw them, would he give them the video. And Walt agreed. Walt and Jerry remembered full well what their last name was. They even came to the conclusion that some of them, if not all of them were related. But they also realized at the same time, that if their knowledge was to get out, International Rescue would probably cease to exist and neither of the men wanted to be responsible for all those lives that would not get saved in the future. They really had a high regard for that organization. They heard that the hospital received a huge donation. The check had a Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward signature on it. But they didn't know why such a socialite would suddenly bestow such a gift on them, and she didn't say why other than a small hand written note stating, "thank you for taking such good care of some friends of mine."  
  
As they were chatting away, a stretch limo pulled up in front followed by three pickup trucks and a large SUV. The front passenger door opened up and both Walt and Jerry assumed that whoever got out was going to open the back door for some hotshot. They were both puzzled, who the heck would visit Hogs Hollow with such a large entourage? What they saw first was a pair of crutches coming out the door, followed gingerly by a young man, obviously needing them. He slowly and very carefully walked back along the limo to greet a dark haired man that just drove up in a Dodge Ram and took something from him. Walt and Jerry recognized Scott who then got into the back of the limo. Then they recognized John, Brains and Gordon as they each went up to the young man and handed him something. Brains and Gordon got into the limo and John went to the back of the third pickup, a Toyota to fish something out. When the young man on crutches collected something from all the drivers, he slowly walked up to Walt and Jerry. When he got closer they could see that his face exhibited some recent but healing trauma. He spoke in an incredibly rich soothing voice, "Uh, sorry for the show," he said, pointing to the stretch limo, "but it was the only thing we could find to rent that would hold all of us for the ride back to the airport. I'm looking for Walter and Jerry?"  
  
"I'm Walt and this here is Jerry." Walt said as he extended his hand in a handshake. Leaning on his crutches, the young man reached out with his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Virgil."  
  
Both Walt's and Jerry's eye lit up as they stood up. Jerry spoke first, "Hey, I didn't recognize you at all, you look terrific, how are you doing?"  
  
"I'm recovering just fine, thank you," said Virgil, "and I owe it all to you."  
  
Blushing, both men talked over each other. But Virgil was able to understand "Oh, it was nothing, glad we could help".  
  
Virgil held up his hand to quiet the two men, "I believe that you have some people who damaged their trucks while trying to get me out of Thunderbird 2, correct? If I am not mistaken, they were a Dodge Ram, Toyota Tundra, Chevy 3500 and a Ford Escalade, right? Would you please see to it that the owners received these new vehicles to show my appreciation and gratitude." And Virgil handed Walt the four sets of keys that the others gave him. Walt then excused himself and went inside.  
  
While Walt was inside, Virgil reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope and handed it to Jerry. Maybe you two can start that little tourist trade showing off 'Little Grand Canyon'. As Virgil turned towards John who had been standing by the back of the pickup with what looked to be a large painting wrapped in brown paper, Jerry opened up the envelope. He fell back hard on his chair almost falling over. Walt had just come back out and caught him and said, "What's the matter?!! What's in that envelope?" Jerry just shoved the envelope into Walt's hand and tried to catch his breath. Walt handed the video George took to Virgil then looked at the check inside and also sat down hard. There were seven zeros on the check. He had never held so much money in his whole life. Then he noticed whose signature was on the bottom. One Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward. He pointed that out to Jerry who was still fanning himself with his hand. He just raised an eyebrow and looked up at Virgil who was holding the video and a puzzled look on his face.  
  
Walt said, "Someone in town video'd the rescue for you. There are no copies made or anything that you have to worry about. It is strictly for you." Virgil said, "Since I don't remember any of it, I would like to see what happened. Thank you, and thank George for me." He now motioned John to come over. John greeted them when he approached, "Hi fellas!" Walt chimed in, "You're looking a lot better too from the last time I saw you. Hey, your arm must be doing pretty well to be able to carry that heavy thing." John replied, "yeah, I have been doing a lot of physical therapy and the arm is as good as new."  
  
John placed the object in front of the two still seated men. "Virgil and I personally got this for the town. We hope you like it." The young men shook both Walt's and Jerry's hands, turned and walked slowly back to the limo. They both climbed in back and the limo left. Walt and Jerry tore the paper from the large heavy object, thinking it was a fancy painting for the town hall. They took a look at it and smiled.  
  
It was a fancy wooden sign, painted teal, with gold engraved lettering:  
  
WELCOME TO HOGS HOLLOW HOME OF THE LITTLE GRAND CANYON AND THE TOWN THAT RESCUED INTERNATIONAL RESCUE.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
****Author's note:  
  
I want to thank everyone for their reviews. Reading them was becoming very addicting. It not only drove me to finish the story, but I was actually looking forward to writing it. I did not know what was going to happen until the words flowed from my fingers. I just started with the idea of TB2 crashing. Everything else was just as new to me as it was to you. As soon as I come up with another base idea, another story will start to flow.  
  
And now for the disclaimer: I do not own Thunderbirds, but I thank Gerry Anderson and Sylvia for the original idea and Carlson for allowing me to write a story on something they own. 


End file.
